Legacy of the Overmind
by Abyssal Angel
Summary: Inspired by East Bridge's 'The Zerg Swarm'. Sixth, and looking to be final, rewrite. Matthew wakes up to find himself with new unexpected powers in a very unexpected place. Rated M just in case. DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it! I only own myself. I'd like to keep it that way, thanks.
1. Chapter 1 - Day 1

Ugh… what… light? Why is there light in my eyes? I had the windows in my apartment blacked out a long time ago! Wait, this light is coming in from my left… but the only window in my bedroom is behind me…

I'm not in my apartment. I stiffened, careful not to give away that I'm awake. If I'm not in my apartment, the first most likely explanation is someone moved me to where I am. Does that mean I've been kidnapped? No, at 25, I'm too old to be kidnapped… abducted, more like.

Carefully, I slitted my eyes open and looked slowly around, just in case my abductors are nearby. Seeing no one, I open my eyes more fully and take in my surroundings.

I'm in a cave. No, too small to be a cave. More like a burrow. I'm lying on the rocky floor with the back of the burrow to my right and the opening to my left, with trees beyond. A forest maybe? Just where the heck am I?

Straining my ears, I don't hear anyone nearby. Slowly, I ease myself into a sitting position. Other than a sore back from laying on solid rock, I'm uninjured. Someone also went to the trouble of dressing me. The last thing I remember is falling asleep in my bed last night. Considering I sleep in my underwear… someone dressed me in a plain black T-shirt, and my ABU military pants and boots from my stint in the Air Force. Well, whoever dressed me forgot my glasses and my pockets are empty. Great. Least I only really needed them to read more easily.

Slowly and quietly, I got to my feet in a crouch, and slowly made my way to the mouth of the burrow to see if anyone is around. Maybe if I find someone, I can listen in and see if I can find out what's going on here.

I've only taken one step outside, when the sunlight hits my eyes and blinds me. I wince and cover my eyes with an arm, then slowly lower it hoping to get used to the light, only to stare in shock.

I'm surrounded by black. It's cold and empty. I'd wonder if I'd gone blind, but I can still see myself when I look down.

A light behind me flashes, and I turn towards it. A great ball of golden white light floats in front of me. It's bigger than I am and opaque. It's also warm, and wards away the chill of the darkness.

I'm not sure what's going on, but I'd rather be near the light than the cold black. A fleeting thought of lights at the end of tunnels has me pausing for a moment, before I shrug it off. This isn't a tunnel, and something tells me I'm not dying anyway.

Reaching a hand out, I touch the light. It feels good. I'm surprised for a moment when my hand passes through. The inside feels warm and inviting. I pause for a moment and look back. The darkness is black and cold, and an unpleasant chill goes up my spine. I don't want to go near it. Turning back, I take a deep breath, and step inside the light.

Abruptly, I'm back in the forest, lying just outside the burrow on the grass, and the sunlight is streaming in my eyes, only it doesn't hurt. Blinking, I turn from it on instinct and sit up. I feel good. Better than I ever have before. Before I can start to wonder what just happened, I blink as I realize I'm seeing two different things at once.

I don't know how, but when I close my eyes, I can still see my surroundings as if I still had my eyes open, and that ball of light I'd stepped into is surrounding me, only somehow I know on some level that the ball of light isn't surrounding me, it _is_ me. I don't know how I know that though. Just a feeling I guess.

More importantly though, there's a block of text written on the inside of the wall of light. It's small, but I can read it perfectly, even if I'm not looking at it.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_Abilities  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

What the hell? Somehow, I instinctively know that the information is about me, regardless of my name on it. Overmind? Me? Spawn Hatchery… wait, the ZERG Overmind!? THE HELL!? I don't even like the Zerg!

Well… ok, that's not entirely true… but I've always been a far bigger fan of the Protoss than the Zerg. Protoss architecture is particularly beautiful, and the energy they use… everything about the Protoss just looks and feels amazing! But the Zerg… there's no one particular thing I can point out other than that they're slimey, icky, and gross, and not to mention ugly. Granted, I've seen worse. Deadites and the Flood come to mind. The Zerg though… But all that doesn't matter. I'm not sure what just happened, but there's no way that I could be the Overmind.

Why then, does even thinking that seem wrong? Like I'm denying a part of myself? The closest I could describe it would be like denying I have two arms. It's utterly absurd! Of course I have two arms! But how could I possibly be the Overmind?

A large part of me wants to deny everything, to focus on how absurd it is and just turn away and ignore it and go on as I normally do, but… I can't. I've always been more accepting of strange happenstance than others. I often see things that can and can't be explained away, and even if it turns out it was just a cat hiding in a bush that made it rustle, I can't help but wonder what if, just what if it was a ninja following me around that slipped up while following me, or something equally as ridiculous. I know that's not the case… but it does make life more interesting and fun, especially considering what my life was like otherwise. No job, no girlfriend, no goals in life. I was going nowhere fast.

I shake my head away from potentially depressing thoughts and focus on my situation. If nothing else, at least getting kidnapped or whatever has certainly sent me somewhere. Let's just hope that 'somewhere' isn't a padded room with full sensory hallucinations mixed in. I can't shake the feeling that this isn't just my imagination though. Maybe I really have gone crazy? But I've heard crazy people aren't able to question their own sanity. Eh, probably better if I just don't worry about it and roll with it. Heck, there might actually be a way to prove if this is all just nonsense or not.

Sitting up, I brush some of the grass off the back of my shirt that was starting to itch. Then, having no real idea what I'm doing, I bend down and place my hands on the ground and think the words, '_Spawn Hatchery.'_

Immediately, words flash across the wall of light. I have to close my eyes to see them but I don't have to look because I somehow already know what it says.

_Not enough room._

Well that was a bust. I guess I'll just have to find a clearing then. I blinked my eyes a few times, causing the globe of light surrounding me to flicker on and off. It's a bit disconcerting to look at since, I'm a lot more used to everything going black when I blink. Still being able to see when my eyes are closed is a little disconcerting, even if it is through a translucent glowing ball. Slowly, the words from earlier fade to nothing once again.

With nothing else to stare at, I take in my surroundings. I remember that I came out here to see if I could find anyone, kidnapper or otherwise, but it's rather obvious at this point that there's no one around. I have no idea where I am. The sun is beating down from directly overhead, so I've no idea which way north is. I don't hear any cars or people in the distance, so whoever left me here is long gone.

Turning back around, I examine the burrow closely and notice something odd. The walls are completely smooth and circular. It's almost as if someone took a plug straight out of the rock or something. There's no way this thing is natural. Stranger still, the only foot prints in the dirt and dust in and around the burrow are my own. I'm not sure what to make of this mystery, but without further information, I've got nothing to go on.

Well that's just great. Now what? Looks like I'm on my own. Maybe if I can get a good vantage point, I'll be able to see if there's any civilization around, maybe a road or a town? That'll at least give me a destination to head towards. Now, what would serve as a good vantage point? The burrow I was in is sort of in the side of a slight rise, but that won't do me any good. I won't be able to see above any of the trees standing on top of it. Maybe if I climbed a tree? I look around examining the trees more closely. They're all about the same height, but a few are a bit taller than the others.

Picking a fairly sturdy looking oak, with some low hanging branches, I looked up and gulped. Sighing, and closing my eyes for a moment to collect myself, a gesture made futile since it didn't block my sight at all, I hoisted myself up and started to make the climb. I did my best not to look down. I hate heights…

It took some doing, but I finally reached close to the top, and got a good grip on the trunk and closed my eyes and pressed my face to the tree trunk to block my sight so I could rest and hopefully calm down. Normally, I don't mind heights. I absolutely love flying and rollercoasters for instance. It's just the idea of falling that scares me. The fact that the only thing that's keeping me from falling down right now is my own body terrifies me. Give me a seatbelt or a tether any day.

Having rested long enough to finally feel my heartbeat slow and my arms to stop trembling, I open my eyes and slowly look around. Trees. Lots of trees. Trees to the left, trees to the right, trees in front, trees to the back and a mountain range a really long ways off in the distance. There's not a sign of civilization anywhere. No buildings, no roads, no signs, nothing! Not even smoke from a fire or anything!

I'm lost… closing my eyes and pressing my face back against the tree trunk, I allow myself a few seconds to freak out, then take a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh to calm myself. This isn't the end of the world. This just means I have to settle in for the long haul. That means survival. Just gotta remember the three steps to surviving in the wilderness are Food, Water, and Shelter. Find water, and I'll find food nearby, and then I'll build a shelter near both. Having a goal helps me calm down further.

Looking around once again, only this time for a lake or a river, it takes me a moment before I finally spot a river trailing along the edge of a clearing in the direction of the mountains. At least that gives me an easy landmark to make sure I'm going the right direction. I examine it for a bit to make sure I have it's position fixed in my mind once I get down. Speaking of getting down…

Sighing, I slowly and stiffly make my way down the tree. Once on the ground, I pause and rest for a few moments to make sure of my direction, and mentally bless the ground beneath my feet, then start heading towards the mountains I can just barely see through the trees in the distance.

I'm not sure how much time passed until I made it to the river. My watch is gone, but judging from the position of the sun, I'd guess only an hour or two has passed. Somehow I'd stumbled directly upon the clearing I'd spotted. I counted myself lucky, considering I was just thinking I might have to climb another tree to make sure I'm going in the right direction. Honestly, I'd figured I'd have run into the river while I was still in the trees and have to follow that to the clearing.

Kneeling on the bank of the two meter wide river, I splashed my face to cool off, not that I really needed it. Despite the sun, I don't really feel hot, but the cool water feels good anyways, and I'm thirsty. Only problem is I have no way of boiling the water to make sure it's pure. The water does look remarkably clear though.

Thirsty enough to risk it, I scrubbed my hands under the water, than scooped some up in my cupped hands. Not seeing any floaters, I took a sip. My eyes widened. This is the best water I've ever tasted! And I don't even _like_ water! Throwing caution to the wind, I scooped up cupfuls of water in my hands and drank it down till I felt satisfied. Even if I get sick later, that was worth it. Though, if this Overmind business has any weight to it, perhaps that Regeneration thing I supposedly have will keep me from getting sick.

Speaking of that Overmind thing, I leaned back and regarded the clearing with interest. It's a rather nice meadow, with grass and flowers scattered about. It's also large enough for a Hatchery. I don't know how I know that, but I do.

Standing up, I walked over to the center of the clearing. Once there, I got down on my knees and place my hands on the ground and thought the words, 'Spawn Hatchery'. I suddenly feel a rush and a tingle shoot through my entire body to my arms, then down my arms and out my hands. It left me feeling fatigued in a way I didn't even know I could feel fatigued, though it has no effect other than me wanting to take a nap for a moment. Immediately afterwards I felt something bump up against my hand. Startled, I lifted my hands away, and then just stared.

There's a Zerg cocoon pulsating on the ground where my hands just were. I can't help but recognize it. It looks exactly like it does in the game. I blinked in shock. I hadn't actually expected that to work to be honest. Pausing, I realized that something had changed when I blinked. Closing my eyes, my wall of light is no longer blank. Instead it's gained a box of text that, from my perspective, is floating right next to the Coccoon. The info inside tells me what I already know. It's a Zerg Hatchery, newly born and growing. The text displays a slowly growing amount of hitpoints, and a progress bar counting down from 12 hours. I regard the ball of light with a trace of amusement. Is this thing a computer monitor now? Actually, a chair inside a globe shaped holographic display sounds really cool and useful now that I think about it.

Focusing back on the Hatchery, I realized with a start that it's glowing. I almost didn't notice thanks to the glow let off by my light ball. It's glowing the same golden white color as my ball of light too. There's also a strand of the same colored light connecting it to my ball of light, connecting it directly at the point between me and it. The connection looks to slowly be thickening as time passes. Curious, I reached out a finger and touched it.

In that instant, I can feel the Hatchery waking up. I can feel its senses turn towards me, and for lack of a better term, it purrs. The connection of light pulses against my finger, and I can feel an outpouring of love, admiration, and adoration, from it towards me. To say I'm floored is an understatement. My eyes widen and my breath catches in my throat. To directly feel the strength of this little thing's love for me… the shock of it caused me to pull my finger away from the strand, but I can still feel the Hatchery over the connection. It's… it's overwhelming.

Almost without conscious thought, I bring my finger up and brush it down the side of the cocoon, stroking it. It shudders and leans into the touch, and my heart simply melts. I never thought a Zerg could be cute, but I've been proven wrong, though I have to wonder if it's going to be this small, why there wasn't enough room for it before? That's when I remember that feeling that the clearing would be big enough, and I realized that it's probably going to grow a lot bigger over the next 12 hours. After all, this clearing isn't small. I could probably fit an entire baseball field here, plus stands.

The Hatchery sends another burst of love at me, and my heart jumps at the feeling of it, while at the same time I recoil a little. Why is it doing that? Why would it do that? Confusion threatens to overwhelm me along with the overwhelming instinct I feel to wrap the thing with my own love in return. It's like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day with a hot mug of cocoa. I don't understand what's going on at all. The little Hatchery sends another burst of love at me, and I unconsciously send a burst of love for it right back, and it practically quivers under my touch. I realize with a start I'd been stroking my finger down the side of the cocoon's membrane the entire time without even thinking about it. Unbidden, a smile starts to slowly take its place on my face. I don't know what's going on, and I can't even begin to understand at this point, but whatever it is, I don't want it to stop. As the connection to the Hatchery widens, I can feel the love and warmth it's sending me stronger and stronger, coming almost in pulses, like a heartbeat. Some part of me at least knows what to do, so I give over to it and simply give back what it's giving me in return. At this point, my smile is so wide, I fear it'll split my face, and I want nothing more than to smother this little thing with affection and protect it from anything and everything.

In the meantime, my mind tries to throw up random ideas for what's happening and why. The most plausible catches me off guard at first, then I consider it. Is this how a parent feels? I wonder… is this anything like how a father feels, when they see their child for the first time? I am technically the Hatchery's parent after all. I made it. Is this just a natural parental response to a child? It's the closest analogy I can come up with for what I'm feeling right now, and I latch onto the explanation like a lifeline. I lament for just a moment that I've never married and had a child before this point. I feel the sadness of it, but it's muted compared to the feelings being transmitted to me from the Hatchery, and slowly the sadness is pushed away, leaving me with a feeling of simple warmth and happiness. If this is what I can look forward to for being the Overmind, I think I could get used to this. Although, if creating more Zerg makes this feeling any more intense, it really might just overwhelm me. I don't fancy being stuck somewhere lying in a drooling mess on the floor, but at the same time, I don't think that's going to happen. I don't know why I know that, I just do. Call it a gut instinct I guess, though I've never really had one before this point.

A growl interrupts the moment, and I startle only to realize that I'm hungry. The feelings from the Hatchery fades a bit as I focus on something other than it. The feeling doesn't go away entirely though, and it's buoying me up, keeping me feeling rather cheerful rather than the depression that was nagging at me before. Yes, I could really get used to this. My stomach growled again. The water satisfied my thirst, but I could really use something to eat. I've no access to fire, so meat isn't an option. No animals are around anyway so that doesn't matter. I must've scared them all off as I walked over here. It's so quiet… the only sound seems to be the wind rustling through the leaves and my stomach growling again.

Looking around, I nearly do a double take. There, sitting under a tree next to where the river meets the forest edge is a big red juicy looking apple. That's… convenient. I scan the area for a moment, before deciding paranoia in this instance isn't really necessary. Walking over, I pick it up and shine it on my shirt. It nearly fills out both hands, it's so large.

Taking a big bite, I'm careful not to chew, and pull the piece out of my mouth and inspect the 'meat' of the fruit. It's perfectly white with a little bruising. No rotting and no bugs. Satisfied, I eat the chunk of fruit and bite into the rest. Finishing it off, I looked up, only to see even more apples. Grinning, I pluck one down and subject it to the same test before eating it. That would explain the bruising from the first apple. It must've fallen off the tree.

Having eaten my fill, I take another drink of water, before looking around. I'm hoping I find more than just apples, since nothing but apples would get old really fast, but until then I now have food and water taken care of, and once the Hatchery is done I'll have a shelter, but considering how much time is left, it'll probably be the middle of the night before it's finished. I should probably make a shelter to sleep in for my first night here.

It takes a bit of foraging before I just use my weight to break a rather sturdy and fairly straight branch off of a tree. Taking a somewhat sharp rock I'd found in the dirt, I used it to hack off the smaller branches. With that done, I pocketed the rock and took the stripped branch back to the clearing. I dug a small hole in the ground somewhat near the edge of the clearing, close to the apple tree and the river. I then stuck the branch in the ground and filled the hole back up around it and tamped the dirt down. That should serve well as the center support pole for a makeshift teepee.

I started gathering up a large amount of even larger branches, having to break a number of them off of trees. These ones I left the smaller branches on, then I leaned them against the branch I'd stuck in the ground, making sure to lean two against each other from opposite sides at the same time so it wouldn't fall over. Balancing them against the center branch isn't really how a Teepee works, but I don't have any rope or strips of fabric to lash the branches together, and I'm not about to rip my only shirt into strips if I can help it. Good thing I left a Y shape at the top of the center support pole for the rest of the branches to settle in so they wouldn't fall. I took extra care to dig the ends into the grass and dirt just to make sure they wouldn't fall though. It wouldn't do for the wind to blow the whole thing over in the middle of the night after all.

Doing this, I set up a leafy teepee of sorts, with the branches I'd left on the 'walls' interweaving each other to give it more stability. Surprisingly it worked better than I thought it would. The end result looks more like a rough shaped igloo than a Teepee, but whatever works. I used a few extra leafy sticks to patch holes here and there, and left myself an opening in the side for a door. I then grabbed some sticks with lots of leaves and wove them together in a rough square shape to use as an actual door. The whole process took up the rest of the day, and I stopped to get plenty of water so I wouldn't dehydrate. Finally finished, I inspected my work. It's not particularly large or well crafted, but it'll do for the one night. I just hope the interior of the Hatchery isn't slimy or wet. Sleeping in the dirt is bad enough, but I'd take that over laying in slime. I shudder at the thought.

Despite a certain bleakness to the situation, I couldn't help but feel optimistic about the whole thing. It's really hard to feel down when a certain Hatchery keeps sending me bursts of love anytime I start to feel depressed. Even being in such a tough situation, I can't help but feel that this is far better than any time in my life that I can remember. And if all the Zerg are like this? I take back any thoughts I had about not liking the Zerg. Zerg are awesome!

As the day waned, I couldn't help but notice that I hadn't gotten sunburned at all. Normally I burn rather easily, and I have been working rather hard out in the clearing quite a bit, but I'm not burned at all. Heck I don't even really feel that hot either, despite wearing black! It's probably something else to thank my new Zerg Regeneration for and probably the Temperature Resistance as well. I haven't even gotten all that sweaty!

I've definitely gotten plenty dirty though. Walking downstream to where the river meets the forest, I stripped and stepped into the water. It's only a meter deep in the middle so I have to get on my knees to get the majority of myself under the water. It feels cool and refreshing. I wonder if this would feel cold if I weren't the Overmind now? Speaking of which, does that mean I'm not human anymore? I contemplated that for a few moments before deciding it doesn't really matter. I never really defined my existence on my race or species anyway. I always figured choices were what made a person. Besides, considering a majority of the humans I dealt with over the course of my life rejected me for simply being myself, I don't really feel the fact that I might not be able to call myself human anymore as any large loss. There are far more important things anyway. Such as love and kindness. What you are hardly matters if you're a good and decent person.

I smiled over at the Zerg Hatchery. It's grown in size over the hours. It's almost as big as a two story house now. It's certainly not like anything I'd expected. I'd certainly not want it around if it felt any desire for destruction or blood shed, as I'd figured the Zerg would, considering their moniker of 'Scourge of the Universe'. I frowned at that thought. If the Zerg are real, I might just run into other races like the Protoss or Terrans. Their first instinct would be just like mine would have been before I became the Overmind, to kill them all. Better safe than sorry. I don't know about any other Zerg that might be out there, but when it comes to mine… I know better now, and I certainly don't want anyone killing the first creatures to ever make me feel as happy as I do right now.

In that case, what should I do? Keep my Zerg hidden? That's not really going to solve the problem. Plus, if they're ever discovered, they'll just be mowed down like the rest. I could try and change their appearance so they don't look like Zerg anymore, but I wouldn't even know how to begin to do that. Better save that for later. In that case, my best option looks to be to simply make my Zerg as powerful as possible so no one will try to hurt them. Works for me after all. When I was younger, I was just a shrimpy kid, but then I hit a growth spurt and jumped to my height of 6'6". Now everyone is intimidated by me and leaves me alone. Makes it hard to make friends, but it's better than the alternative.

Climbing out of the water, I debated washing my clothes, before deciding I'll save that for morning when I can hang them out to dry in the sun, rather than now since the sun is going down and I'll have to lay in the dirt anyway soon. I shook myself dry and slipped my clothes back on. I feel a bit gross, but it's better than lying on the grass and dirt in nothing but my birthday suit, and climbed into my shelter, and fixed the door in place. I contemplated using leaves as bedding, but the idea of bugs crawling from the leaves to me sends shivers up my spine. I'll take dirt over bugs.

I can't really stand up in the shelter since the ceiling is too low. Instead, I stoop over and I crawl over to the spot of grass I'd decided to sleep on and laid down. I'm not really tired, but there's nothing else to do really until the Hatchery is done, so I might as well try to get some sleep. I'm actually a little surprised I don't feel tired or sore from all the work I did building this thing since up to this point, I've lead a fairly sedentary life style. I guess being Zerg now has more perks than I expected. At least I don't look like a scaly bug or a formless blob with some armor and spikes. That's certainly a plus.

Tucking my arm beneath my head, I closed my eyes. To my surprise, the vision I have with my eyes closed starts to fade till the only thing I can see is the ball of light, and then even that disappears. I opened my eyes in surprise, then closed them again. The ball of light and being able to see despite my closed eyes is back. What happened? Does that mean if I focus on looking at nothing, I'll actually see nothing? Giving it a try, my sight again fades just like before, until I can't see anything. As an exercise, I try to go back to seeing everything as well as the ball of light while keeping my eyes closed. All I have to do is focus, and it's all back immediately. This is going to take some getting used to, but it's better than learning how to sleep with my eyes technically open. It took a bit of practice, and occasionally I'd hear the creak of a branch in the wind that would jerk me back to being alert. The only thing missing is my eyes stinging from the sudden switch from darkness to brightness over and over again. I can only assume it's because I'm not actually seeing with my eyes right now. Eventually though as darkness falls, I finally get the hang of it and I soon dozed off to the warmth of the love the Hatchery is steadily feeding me.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 0  
>Support – 010_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Hatchery (Non Sapient; Unborn)_


	2. Chapter 2 - Night 1

I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour before I was woken up by an awful noise. I stiffened, wide eyed, praying that'd been the remnant of a nightmare.

The noise comes again. A shuddering moan. It's distressingly near and unfortunately very familiar.

A clacking noise like bones smacking together cinches it for me. Zombie moans? Skeleton bones rattling? Those are sounds I've heard a million times before while playing Minecraft!

I groaned inwardly. Why Minecraft? Starcraft I could at least handle by itself, but Minecraft too!? Shouldn't the land be blocky and have things floating in the air, defying physics if this is Minecraft? Another moan jerks my attention and I followed the sound of the Zombie as it stepped past my shelter. I hear the thwip of an arrow firing from a bow. Panicking, I immediately drop, but no arrow pierces through my shelter where my head was. What was it firing at?

A noise of distress from my Hatchery answers that question. It's shooting at my Hatchery. That skeleton is shooting at MY HATCHERY! I almost see red, but thankfully, when I get angry, I grow cold and analytical. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, I realize quite quickly there's nothing I can really do against Zombies or Skeletons. I could have run out there in a rage and tried to kill them all, but what would that accomplish? Me full of arrows, and possibly turned into a Zombie myself. My regeneration might keep me from being killed, but I don't want to test if I can regenerate from a lucky shot in a place that could kill me instantly, like my head, or if regeneration will protect me from zombie-ism. Closing my eyes, I turned my gaze to the Hatchery, particularly its hit points, and I sigh in relief. It's hardly being damaged, so it should be fine.

Quietly, I stay where I am, shaking in repressed anger and wishing there was something I could do. I've never liked feeling helpless. I clench my fists as I hear an explosion and the ground shakes lightly. Creepers. That did a bit more damage to the Hatchery, but nothing it can't regenerate from.

Never again. As soon as the Hatchery is done, I'll get some Zerglings and set up some other defenses. But that will require resources. I can only guess that the resource required is the same one listed under my stats, which is Bio Energy, whatever that is. Hopefully I can figure it out quickly. I do not want to leave my Zerg, or myself, defenseless and helpless ever again.

Hours pass as I listen to various monsters pass by. A large collection has surrounded the Hatchery and are trying to beat their way in. A useless gesture. I could try and sleep, but their noises are enough to wake the dead, no pun intended. I can't help but feel a slight vindictive pleasure as the occasional explosion from a Creeper kills off a chunk of the undead. A steady staccato of arrows sound off, but they're mere mosquito bites compared to the armor piercing spikes of Marine Impaler rifles the Hatchery is hardened to defend against.

I pass the time by watching the Hatchery's progress bar, ticking down the time till it hatches. I know it can't defend itself, but I'm fairly certain I'd at least be safer inside the Hatchery than outside of it. Plus with some larvae available, I can finally start working on figuring out what Bio Energy is and get some defenses set up.

I freeze and I swear my heart skips a beat as the tell tale sound of an Enderman teleport sounds extremely close by. Not Enderman… of all creatures to be around, why them? They're the hardest of Minecraft creatures to defend against as well as almost impossible to escape from. I can only hope the tall ugly kleptomaniac doesn't find an interest in my shelter. The whole thing would probably collapse, and I'd have to run then.

I thought that too soon. Almost immediately after, black scaly arms punch through my shelter and rip a chunk out. The whole thing quickly destabilizes and collapses over on top of me. I lift my head in fear, only to hear and see the sound of my salvation.

With a great splattering noise, the hatchery bursts out of its cocoon and I can't help but take a moment to look at it in awe. It must be at least five stories tall, with the four tusks at its corners standing even taller above that. In the dark of the night, the black chitinous armor I can see by the light of the moon looks incredibly ominous, and would probably give most intelligent beings pause at the sight of it. Ok, I take back what I said about Zerg being ugly. Badass is more like it.

My brain finally catches up with the situation at hand. Thankfully the Enderman is gone. To my benefit, the monsters here seem to be just as singleminded as they are in the game, so none of them have switched targets to me. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean I can't be targeted by new monsters. I feel the blood drain out of my face as a moan sounds off close to me. I whip around and see a Zombie coming out of the treeline near the river and starts heading straight for me!

I scramble up onto my feet and take off as fast as my legs can carry me. Adrenaline pumps into me as I realize quickly that with all the Zombies swarming the Hatchery, there's no way inside. I worry for a moment what to do, before my I realize my problem is already being answered. A purplish grey ooze has started to slowly spread from the bottom of the Hatchery. It's like molasses, only much faster. It latches onto the row of Zombies by their legs and pulls them down, oozing over them. I falter for a moment, then remind myself that I'm the Overmind, so Creep shouldn't hurt me… I hope. However, the Zombie behind me will. So will the Skeleton if I don't start running faster! I reflexively duck as an arrow whizzes by my head and ruffles my ear. I freaked out a tad and ran even faster.

To my relief, the Creep flattens out for me as I approach, making a path to the closest door. I didn't think I could move any faster, but once my feet touched the Creep I did. It's like its spring boarding me forward in the direction I want to go. As soon as I reached the nearest door, it expanded open and I nearly barreled inside where it contracted closed right behind me. I braced myself against the slightly squishy wall and leaned back to catch my breath. I haven't had to run like that in years! Heck, I'm not even supposed to run at all! Though I suppose Zerg regeneration does trump old military medical issues, even something as painful as chronic shin splints.

I turned back to the door, a little surprised that I can't even hear the monsters outside anymore. What I do hear is an almost throbbing sound, like a heartbeat, as well as a slight stretching sound like pulled rubber. I try to figure out where it's coming from, only to realize the walls are expanded and contracting slightly, almost like breathing.

Looking around, I appear to be in a short hall, sloping down into a bowl shaped room. Stepping into it properly, I look up at the highly sloped dome like ceiling. The walls have a rib like quality that goes all the way up to a spot on the ceiling that looks like another opening, though I don't know what it opens up to. To my relief, nothing appears to be slimy at all, just soft, though it does feel slightly familiar somehow. Thinking back, I realize it feels just like that time at the dentists when they were doing a cleaning, and during a break my mouth felt dry, so I touched the roof of my mouth. That's what it feels like. Has the same general color too, though there are darker veins beneath the skin, pulsing in time with the throbbing. Is it a heartbeat? It's kind of soothing actually.

Despite the flinches of pain the Hatchery is broadcasting, it still manages to send me a burst of warmth, as if welcoming me home. I smile and pet the wall. I frown then, as I realize there's something different about the connection to the Hatchery. Frowning, I slide down to a seat as I focus on the connection between us.

In an instant, the view around me changes. It takes me a moment to look around before I realize what happened. I'm seeing everything from the Hatchery's point of view. It's incredible. It's like I've been blind before, and now suddenly I can see. I can see all around me all at once, in complete 360 degrees. I can even see the Hatchery itself from an outside perspective; though I can't even begin to figure out how that's possible, considering the Hatchery doesn't even have eyes to see with in the first place! Well, none that I can tell anyway.

It takes me a moment to realize that I can actually move this viewpoint around, almost like a free flying camera, only I can still see in a 360 degree arc all around me. In my excitement, I look around faster and faster. I find there's a limit to how far I can travel beyond the sight range of the Hatchery before everything starts to become fuzzy, but within that range, at the speed I'm moving my sight, It's like I can actually see everything all at once!

Once the novelty of it started to wear off, I realized with a start that if I opened my eyes, I could still see everything from the perspective of the Hatchery. It's a bit jarring, but I find if I focus on one more than the other, I can seemingly switch between the two fairly seamlessly.

It's at that point when reality catches up with me, and I realized in my bid to see everything that I'd also seen the same Enderman that'd taken a chunk from my shelter. To my shock though, it hasn't reacted at all. Does it only react to being seen if it's a physical eye or something? That doesn't even make sense! Shaking my head, I decide to just count myself lucky that I don't have an Enderman warping into the Hatchery and shrieking at me. It's bad enough that all these monsters actually look scary, rather than their benign blocky counterparts in the game.

And doesn't that just beat all? Minecraft. That actually explains a few things now that I think about it. The lack of animal sounds, or even bugs or birds is not natural. I hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now… There's no place on Earth that's utterly silent like that. But that means… I'm not on Earth anymore. A thousand thoughts flitter through my mind at that thought. Denial is a big portion of it. A quick glance up on my newly dubbed mental map settles it though. Those aren't Earth constellations.

I don't think I've ever been more lost. I might've lost myself to despair at that moment if not for the Hatchery sending me another well timed burst of love and concern. I can't help but pat it again in appreciation, and the walls quiver at my touch. Grinning, I firm my resolve. So what if I'm not on Earth? This changes nothing. I was already planning on going out there to explore. This just means that I might find Earth out there too.

That settled, I laid down on the floor. Kinda wish I had a bed, but this is far better than laying in dirt, that's for certain. I eye the pit in the center of the floor. Light is shining out of it, making it the only light source in the room. Curious, I pull myself up, despite my muscles starting to feel the fatigue from the hour of the night and the adrenaline crash. Pulling myself to the lip that I'm glad will keep me from rolling into the pit in my sleep, I look down inside. There's some kind of liquid at the bottom. It's a pool.

I looked more closely at the command list for the Hatchery that appeared when it was born that I'd only glanced at in passing earlier. Among the commands, other than ordering Larvae around, setting up rally points for different units, and an order to evolve the Swarm with the ability to burrow for 300 Bio Energy, there's also a command to fill up my PSI energy instantly, at the cost of Bio Energy, at the Bio Energy Pool inside the Hatchery.

Immediately upon thinking of the command, the greenish white glowing liquid flowed upwards into easy reach. I think if I want to use this, I have to drink it. That's kind of creepy though. The look of it reminds me unerringly of Mako. I doubt it's the same thing though. At least I hope not. Turning my attention away, I noted that the liquid receded back down to its original depth.

Curiosity satisfied, I curled up in the recess between the lip of the pool, and the incline of the bowl. I find it far more comfortable to sleep on a flat surface than a slope anyway. Twisting around to get more comfortable, I ended up kicking off my shoes and socks, then after thinking about it, I pulled off my shirt and bunched it up to use it as a pillow. I left my shoes strewn at my feet, for lack of a place to put them away. Finally satisfied, I closed my eyes and drifted off almost instantly.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 0  
>Support – 011_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Hatchery_

AN – I should mention here that I'm not too fond of the appearance of the Zerg in Starcraft 2. They looked a lot cooler to me in Brood War, so most, if not all appearances of anything Zerg in this story starting off will appear as it does in Brood War, with few variations.


	3. Chapter 3 - Day 2

I woke up to find myself surprisingly refreshed, and comfortable. I sit up with a yawn and stretch to note sunlight filtering in from a hole in the ceiling, as well as light coming in from the four archways that I assume lead outside. At first I'm a bit alarmed that the Hatchery is sitting wide open, but I quickly relax as I focus on my mental map and realize not a single monster is nearby. I guess the Creep ate them all. My chuckling at the thought slowly dies down though as my sleep addled brain finally notes something off.

The clearing. It's coated in Creep. I suppose it was bound to happen, but what's bothering me is the Clearing is now three times the size it originally was. To my slowly dawning horror, I realized what must have happened. The Creep didn't just eat the monsters. It ate the trees too!

This is bad. This is really bad. I can't spread the Creep if it's just going to destroy everything! How am I supposed to prove that my Zerg are benign, if the Creep completely destroys the ecosystem? Making a planet uninhabitable by lowering its T-Score is not acceptable at all! I realize Zerg don't need to breathe, but most everything out there does! Humans certainly do! Everything friendly on this planet does! How'm I supposed to prove the Zerg aren't monsters if the Creep leaves nothing but death and destruction in its wake?

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I calm down from my small panic attack with an exhale, helped along greatly by a concerned Hatchery that seems to be wondering if it did something wrong. I quickly pat it, and send it a burst of love and affection, telling it without words that it's doing just fine. It can't help that the Creep is so parasitic. It can't, but I can. I'm the Overmind. If something is wrong with my Zerg, then I'm just going to have to change it. I don't know how I'm going to switch the Creep over from being parasitic to symbiotic, but I'm sure I'll find a way. I make a mental note to do just that, only for a new block of text to show up on my wall of light with those very words. Nice! That'll make it far easier to remember things!

Feeling a bit more upbeat, I get up, and turn around to fetch my shirt, only to start in surprise. I must've tossed my shirt aside at some point during the night since it's certainly not serving as my pillow. Instead, a depression following the contours of my body is sitting right where I'd laid down last night. No wonder I woke up feeling so refreshed! Almost on instinct, I sent a burst of affection and gratitude to the Hatchery for doing such a thing, and it literally quivered in pride and happiness. It's extremely humbling how just a little affection from me seems to affect it so much.

Getting dressed, I stepped outside and looked around with my own eyes. Honestly, there's really no difference between my eyes and the mental map, other than in a way it seems to put in perspective. Seeing the devastation from the perspective of the Hatchery doesn't really highlight just how much larger the clearing is now, and just how many trees must've been destroyed just from the Hatchery's output of Creep alone. Unfortunately, I'm probably going to have to put down a few Creep Colonies and another Hatchery or two in order to get a proper defensible Hive Cluster set up to defend itself from attacks.

I'm also going to need the room to set up the auxillary buildings as well. I'll at least need it for the Evolution Chamber, which I'm hoping will have what I need to evolve the Swarm, the Creep in particular. It seems only reasonable after all, that an Evolution Chamber should be able to evolve the Zerg.

While I'm thinking, I make my way over to the river for a drink. I'm actually surprised the river is still there. Rather than fill up the river bed or flatten it down like the Creep seems to have done to everything else, including the blast holes left by a few Creepers last night, instead the Creep seems to have simply settled to the bottom of the riverbed, leaving the whole thing intact. I wonder for a moment if the Hatchery did this on purpose. A feeling of confirmation from the Hatchery answers that. Smart. Smarter than I expected. I'd honestly thought the Zerg would be mindless drones that can't do anything without the Overmind to direct them, other than perhaps the Cerebrates themselves. I'm very pleasantly surprised and pleased to know this isn't the case.

After getting a drink, I turn towards the apple tree to get something to eat, only to remember that the Creep had destroyed all the nearby trees. With a sigh, I glance at all the trees a fair distance away. Are any of them apple trees? Better yet, are there any monsters lurking in the shadows of their boughs? I can't tell, since the edge of the Creep roughly marks the edge of my sight range on the mental map. Anything beyond that I'll just have to look around normally.

A burst of feeling from the Hatchery distracts me. I think it's trying to get my attention? Ok, now it's trying to tell me something, but I can't for the life of me translate different bursts of feeling that fast, let alone figure out what even half of them mean in the first place.

Frustrated, I looked down, only to start as the Hatchery seemed to burst in excitement, if that large spike of joy was anything to go by. Whatever it wants, it has to do with the ground? What? The Creep? What about the Creep? My stomach growls and it sends me that feeling of confirmation again. It wants me to eat the Creep? A final burst of confirmation, then it seems to settle down.

Ok, so if the Hatchery is anything to go by, the Creep is edible. Warily, I bent down and tried to grab a piece. To my surprise, a chunk of it detached very easily, and in seconds the Creep grew to replace the hole I'd left behind. I'm half tempted to turn my nose up at it. I walk on this stuff for crying out loud! My stomach growls again. With a sigh, and before I can think better of it, I shove the whole piece in my mouth.

It tastes like sugar taffy. It's practically melting in my mouth. It's a little bland, and with a couple of chews, I swallow it down. That wasn't half bad! Instantly my stomach stopped growling, and I felt like I'd just eaten a rather hearty breakfast. Creep is evidently very filling! It probably wouldn't be a good idea for non Zerg to eat it though, if last night is anything to go by.

Having eaten and not being thirsty, I started to wonder what I should do. The answer hit me pretty quickly. If I want to get anywhere with the Zerg, I need to figure out what Bio Energy is. Making my way over to the Hatchery, I sat down on the Creep and leaned back against the Hatchery to think about it.

I suppose if something were to be Bio Energy, it would have to be somehow biological in nature. Supposedly that pool in the Hatchery consists of Bio-Energy. Perhaps if I want to increase the Bio-Energy available, I need to put something biological in the pool? That does match up with how resource gathering works for the Zerg in Starcraft. In the game, a Drone goes to a crystal formation, bites off a chunk, then deposits it in the Hatchery somehow. Following that line of thinking, I cast about for the closest biological thing other than myself. That would probably be all the trees in the distance.

Well, time for an adventure I guess. Cautiously, I approach the treeline, coming to a stop a few meters away. This close, I can see a couple more apple trees scattered among the trees. I don't see any monsters, but that doesn't mean much, considering Minecraft monsters don't react unless they see you, and if you can't see them, that generally means they can't see you.

Slowly, I step forward, eyes and ears listening and watching for the slightest movement or sound. Closer I get to the tree line, closer… closer… Snatching an apple off the closest apple tree, I walk just as cautiously backwards, keeping my eyes and ears peeled for trouble. I'm not so much worried about Zombies as I am Skeletons. I can outrun a Zombie and even a Creeper, but a skeleton could shoot me down before I even got very far.

Just at the moment I think I may be home free, I spy out of the corner of my eye, a Creeper heading straight for me! The darn thing is as silent as a ghost! Flipping around, I take off running back to the Hatchery. If I'm lucky, I can outpace it to the point it'll give up chasing me before we even get close to the Hatchery. A few long seconds later I run into the Hatchery, and the doors contract shut. Unfortunately I hadn't been fast enough, and I watch on my mental map as the Creeper approaches the door, stops, then switches targets to the Hatchery and blows up. This close, I can feel the tremor shake the Hatchery, but once again it only does a little damage. It'll take a lot more than that to injure the Hatchery enough to overwhelm its natural regeneration.

Sighing, I look down at the apple in hand and grin. Now that it's over, that was kind of exciting! I seem to have gotten a bit of stick attached to the stem of the apple as well. Making my way over to the pool, the Hatchery obliges me by raising the level of the Bio Energy pool again. Holding the apple by the stick, I dipped the lower half in the pool then pulled it back out. Only there was nothing to pull back out. Evidently this stuff works as an instant acid to anything not Zerg. I've suddenly grown even more leery of ever drinking this stuff. Grimacing, I realize I should probably have some of it now so I won't hesitate later if and when I actually need it.

Stooping down, I point my Pinkie finger down and dip the very tip of it in. No effect. I slowly put my finger, then my whole hand in, then pull it back out. Other than greenish white glowing liquid dripping off my hand very much like water, there's no effect at all. In that case, I suck one of the droplets off of my fingers. And here I thought the water outside tasted good! Bio Energy tastes very sweet, but in a pure kind of way. There's no after taste either, unless you count a slight tingle at the back of the mouth. There's really no other way to describe it that I can think of. I definitely know I've found my new favorite drink though. Plus, between the drink and the Creep, I'm going to have one very satisfied sweet tooth.

Eyeing the last half of the apple, I shrug to myself and idly toss it in. It disappears with not even a plop. I turn my attention to the Bio Energy counter, only to be disappointed. There's no change at all! It's still sitting at zero! Well, if an apple won't work, what will?

On an impulse, I step outside and pull up another piece of Creep, then walk back in and toss it into the pool. No change. I even braved the tree line again and grabbed a leafy branch, a rock, and some dirt and toss those in one by one. Incidentally, picking up the rock reminded me of the rock in my pocket I'd used as a dull knife. Pulling it out, I eye it, then after a moment's thought, I dropped it back into my pocket. It might come in handy later. Walking back to the Hatchery, I tossed in the branch, the rock, and the dirt. No change. Frustrated, I thought that maybe I'm just doing it wrong. Maybe I need to just drop it in the Hatchery and maybe it'll convert it into Bio Energy for me?

Grabbing another branch, I once more had to run, though this time from a Zombie that caught fire as soon as it stepped out of the shade of the trees, I listened to it grunt in pain, and I turned around to jog backwards out of reach as I watched it slowly succumb to its injuries and collapse, then burn away into ashes, which the Creep absorbed into itself. Shaking my head, I turned back and stepped into the Hatchery. Stopping just inside, I held up the branch, then very deliberately dropped it onto the floor. At first, nothing happened. Then the floor seemed to expand and contract in spots, and I watched as the branch slowly moved across the floor slowly, then at a steady clip. It got pulled up the lip of the pool, where gravity tipped it over and inside.

Well, I guess that means that I was right before, but even when the Hatchery dropped the branch in itself, the counter didn't change. What am I missing? Frustrated, I plopped down against the wall and leaned back. It's not the most comfortable of seats, but it'll do. Suddenly, the spot I'm sitting in sinks down. It startles me at first, until I realize this is what the Hatchery must've done last night. Once again the Hatchery contoured around me, and leaned me back until I'd swear I'm sitting in a form fitting recliner. I could really get used to this, though at this rate, the Hatchery is going to spoil me something fierce.

Taking a moment to relax, I then turn my mind to chewing over the Bio Energy problem. A quick glance outside and up shows it to be midday. Considering I woke with the rising of the sun, gathering up that stuff must've taken a lot longer than I thought. Time flies when you're having fun I guess. Unfortunately this means I only have roughly six hours to figure out how to get some Bio Energy before the sun sets, and the monsters come out once again.

Twisting the problem about in my head, I consider the problem at different angles. Perhaps it's not something biological, but maybe energy instead? But how do I collect that? Only form of energy I can think of is fire and perhaps sunlight. Maybe if I toss a burning branch into the pool? Or maybe it's the opposite of burning. Water? Water is about the only thing I haven't tossed into the pool yet.

Stepping outside, I grabbed a cup of water in my hands and run back to the Hatchery with it. I only have a few drops left by the time I make it, much to my annoyance. Letting that pour in doesn't do anything, though I'm hardly surprised. Just to make sure, I step back out, then after thinking a moment, I bent down, then sucked as much water into my mouth as I could hold. There, now I shouldn't lose any. I can't help but think I'm clutching at straws at this point though, and I'm proven right when squirting it out into the pool does nothing.

Sitting back down in my new seat that the Hatchery has obligingly left in place along with my 'bed', I thought of more things to try. The burning branch thing is still up in the air, but other than rubbing sticks together, I don't have any way to start a fire. Maybe if I mined some coal or got some glass somehow, but I don't see how that would help. I wouldn't know how to light coal on fire anyway, other than maybe striking it with a rock or something. I've no idea if that would even work.

Maybe I should rub some sticks together… no, I'll save that as a last resort. Speaking of glass or coal though, I'm abruptly reminded that if this isn't Earth, then that must mean this is a Minecraft world… perhaps _the_ Minecraft world. Minecraftia. The implications of that suddenly hit me. It's not just monsters that are here. There are lots of things here! Diamonds and other precious ores… the Nether… Potions… enchanting… Testificates… Villages and Temples… abandoned mines and mine shafts and giant chasms in the ground…

I'm particularly excited by the idea of enchanting. It's the closest thing to workable magic Minecraft has. But how to go about building an enchanting table? I can't remember if Enchanting tables could be found naturally anywhere in Minecraft or not. Would the crafting system even work? Could I build an axe simply by arranging some sticks and planks of wood on a 3x3 grid? Reality starts to set in as I wonder how that would even work. Is that a magic all in its own? Would any 3x3 grid work, or do I have to figure out how to transform a hunk of wood into wooden planks, and then into a crafting table?

Regardless, this isn't getting me any closer to getting some Bio Energy, but it is some good thoughts for the future. Maybe if I can find a village and communicate with them, I could read some of the books in their library and get them to teach me how to make potions, or maybe even iron golems!

Thoroughly distracted, I let my mind wander, as I simultaneously contemplated things I could do in real life Minecraft without a crafting grid, and how to get Bio Energy. Normally I'd feel a bit more focused than this, but between the Hatchery and my own instincts, I'm starting to think maybe I should just relax and not worry so much. Perhaps, for once, everything will sort itself out, and I won't have to worry about making everything right. It's a long shot, but the Hatchery soothing me helps, and I end up dozing off.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 0  
>Support – 011_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Hatchery_


	4. Chapter 4 - Night 2

My eyes snapped open. Did I fall asleep? A quick glance outside shows the moon as having just risen. Crap! I haven't figured out how to get any Bio Energy yet! I watch in frustration as monsters start to pop out of the shadows and start heading for the Hatchery. Watching this, I narrow my eyes as I notice a pattern I hadn't noticed last night.

It seems, just like in the game, monsters aren't spawning within a certain radius of my Hatchery, or maybe just myself. I wonder if there's an outer limit to how far away the monsters can spawn away from me? I always figured that game mechanic was left in Minecraft so that it wouldn't cause the game to overload and crash, but real life doesn't work like that. If that's what's happening here… perhaps there's another explanation for what's going on… Maybe I've been sucked into a video game? I certainly hope not! Assuming this isn't virtual reality though, if the monsters are only spawning around myself… am I being targeted by something? Or maybe there's something about me that this planet naturally rejects since I'm not a native?

I shake my head of the thoughts. It's just speculation anyway. I'll need more information before I can figure out more what's going on. Though, if the monsters spawning around Steve only is on purpose rather than just a mechanic, that would explain why villages are so ill prepared to fight off the monster horde in the game… I guess if I ever find a village, I'll be able to figure out more then.

Sighing, I keep watch outside as more and more monsters come to the Hatchery and attack, only to be sucked under by the Creep. I snorted in amusement as a row of skeletons got sucked under at the same time. They're not very intelligent are they?

Hours passed, and I let my mind wander out of boredom, imagining things I would do in the future with the Zerg, and wondering what's happening back on Earth. I watched the moon travel through the sky, wondering what it's like up there, especially since I won't be needing a space suit to breathe. I'm particularly excited to see what that's like.

As the moon passes directly overhead, something interesting finally happens that has me sitting up in shock.

_Zerg Swarm Bio Energy +310  
>Bio Energy – 310<em>

Wait, what? What the heck just happened? Where'd that Bio Energy just come from? Why'd it come now? I didn't even do anything! The only notable thing that happened at all just now was… I eyed the moon as it passed its zenith, marking the passage of midnight, and the start of a new day. Come to think of it, the Hatchery hatched at midnight last night as well… maybe I get Bio Energy from somewhere every 24 hours? It's the only thing that really makes sense in this. I've no idea at all where it could have possibly come from, unless an apple, a rock, a branch, water, and some dirt accounts for all of that. I seriously doubt it though.

Still, I now have some Bio Energy to work with! There are still monsters surrounding my Hatchery though. I don't dare order some Larvae into any creatures in that mess. Speaking of which, where are the Larvae? Shouldn't they be wriggling outside on the Creep?

The Hatchery got my attention, and the glow it put off flashed in a certain area, directing my mental map to a side view of the Hatchery where there are some smaller closed off tubes near the base. I can see three smaller glows wriggling inside the walls of the Hatchery, which I'm guessing are the larvae. That actually makes a lot more sense than leaving them out to be attacked by enemies. I figure they were only outside the Hatcheries in game to make them easier to select.

Accessing the larvae through the Hatchery, I quickly determined that the Larvae also are nowhere near as resilient and armored as they are in game. Don't get me wrong, my larvae are still tough little buggers, but I think since they aren't sitting outside all the time it makes sense they wouldn't need to be much tougher than they are now. A quick review of the units I'm able to build reveals I can only build Drones and Overlords at this time, the former costing 50 Bio Energy and the latter costing 100 Bio Energy, both only needing ten minutes to grow.

Taking a quick peek outside, I noted in surprise that there seem to be more monsters surrounding the Hatchery than the night before. They're still getting sucked down by the Creep, but more skeletons and zombies keep showing up. It takes me a moment to realize why. No Creepers. No Enderman either. Their absence seems to be made up for with extra Zombies and Skeletons though. That's more than a little odd. I'm not sure what's going on, but thankfully it doesn't seem to matter. The Hatchery's regeneration is still more than enough to compensate for the damage they're causing.

Frowning a little at the off putting change, I decide to put it out of my mind. With nothing to do but wait till morning, I decide to go back to sleep until then. I laid down and once more doze off.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 310  
>Support – 011_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Hatchery_


	5. Chapter 5 - Day 3 (Christmas Day)

I wake up once again to the sight of the opening in the ceiling shining light down into the room. Sitting up, I yawned and stretched, then took a quick look around via the mental map. As expected, no monsters are in sight range.

I scratch an itch on my chest idly as I go about what's looking to be my new daily routine, relieving myself downstream in the river, and grabbing up a piece of Creep for breakfast. I idly note this is the first time I've eaten since eating that bit of Creep yesterday, yet I hadn't felt hungry till now. Creep must've kept me full for an entire day. Now that's impressive.

Turning my eyes back to the Hatchery, I considered some of the plans I made yesterday in my boredom. Most of them weren't feasible, but more importantly is what I should do for now with only 310 Bio Energy to work with, and no guarantee that I'll be seeing more anytime soon. A Drone would be good, as well as an Overlord to get some eyes in the sky as well as some more support for more units. That leaves me 160 to play with. Without access to the Drone command list, I can only speculate on whether this will be enough to bring any buildings into play.

Considering I have the whole day ahead of me and I only need ten minutes to get both out, I figure I'll go ahead with one of each, and command two larvae to morph into a Drone and an Overlord. Two larvae immediately pop out of the side of the Hatchery. I have to walk around the side to see them, but with my mental map I can still watch as they crawl out a small distance away from the hatchery. They then turned on their sides, curled into little round donuts, bit their tails, and ballooned into two identical Zerg egg sacs so fast I would've missed it if I'd blinked.

Rounding the corner, I made my way up to the eggs for a look with my own eyes. If not for the information I'm reading directly off the wall of light that's overlaying them both, I wouldn't be able to tell at all that there are two different Zerg growing in these. Two strands of light snap into place from the eggs to my ball of light. I can feel the start of new emotions and awareness filter over the connection as the two grow. It's very similar to when the Hatchery was first growing, but on a much faster scale. I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and anticipation as I watched my two new Zerg grow quickly.

In what felt like no time at all, both eggs soon splattered open, and I watched in fascination as both Zerg seemed to shake themselves loose of their eggs and unfold themselves. The Overlord inflates to three times the size of its egg as it floats into the sky. It looks a lot like someone crossed over a jellyfish with a hot air balloon and gave it lobster claws. The tendrils beneath it trail almost uselessly in the air, swaying back and forth. I'm surprised to find it actually does have a head with eyes, situated low on its body between the lobster claws. It looks exactly like the Overlord Portrait in Starcraft. The only difference is the eyes have a golden yellow glow the same color as my sphere of light thing, rather than red.

Turning my attention to my Drone, I eye it as it seems to wait patiently in place for me. I can feel its excitement over the link though. The Overlord's is a little more tempered, but both are happy at the attention I'm giving them and are waiting for my orders as near as I can tell, with anticipation. The Drone looks about what I expected from the game. The Drone looks like the front half of a scorpion with the tail of a snake and the sails of a fish. It even seems to be gently swaying in the air like a fish. I wonder if that means… dropping down to all fours, I peer under the Drone. I can see its belly resting on the ground, but that's all. Ordering the Drone to move around me, I watch as it slithers across the ground like a snake, but there's something off about it. Considering the size of the Drone, it looks like it's barely putting any weight on the ground at all, if not just enough to move. I'd heard theories before about how the Drones move, whether their sails are actually webbed feet we never see move, or perhaps they had hundreds of legs underneath their body they moved on. There were also theories that the Drones wriggled on their bellies like a snake, or used the same thing the Overlord does to float a few inches off the ground. Judging from what I'm seeing, it looks like the truth is a combination of those last two.

Standing back up, I flick my eyes over to the Drone's command list and examined it. Checking the build list, I felt surprised at the lack of buildings available. Oh, there's the expected buildings there, those being the Hatchery, Creep Colony, Spawning Pool, Evolution Chamber, and the Extractor. But that's all that's listed. There are empty slots available for new buildings, but they're all blank. In the game, those slots were only grayed out, but you could still check to see the requirements to build those. Does that mean the only buildings I have available are the ones currently listed? No, I have a feeling they aren't. They must be blank for a reason though, right?

With no answers forthcoming, I turn my attention back to the buildings available and check their requirements. Hatcheries require 300 Bio Energy… Spawning Pool costs 200… Creep Colonies only cost 75… Extractors cost 50, though I don't see myself making one of those anytime soon since I don't need Vespene… Woah, Evolution Chambers only cost 75 Bio Energy? Perfect! That leaves me with enough to build one, plus have another Drone available!

Turning back to the Hatchery, I note that the two Larvae I'd used have already been replaced with two new larvae. That was fast. I'm glad that aspect of the Zerg hadn't changed from the game, not that I'd expected it to. I order one to morph into a Drone, then turn back to my new Drone. Now, where to place an Evolution chamber? I'd tossed around a few ideas of how to set up a Hive Cluster last night. I'd studied a little bit of medieval warfare in my spare time back on Earth. I'm rather partial to Star Forts. Unfortunately, with the way the Creep spreads, a star shape for a Hive Cluster isn't really feasible. I guess I'll just have to go with a ring design and double up the rings or something. If I do that, I'll just have to place all the important buildings within the first ring. That decided, I chose a spot to the south of my current Hatchery and ordered the Drone to morph into an Evolution Chamber there.

The Drone took off like a shot, far faster than I expected, though not so fast as to beggar belief. As soon as it reached the spot indicated, it ballooned out so fast into a Cocoon, I know for sure I'd have missed it if I had blinked. I waited the forty minutes required for it to finish growing. It's a far cry faster than the Hatchery was, though I notice Drone created Hatcheries only take 2 hours rather than the 12 my first one did. I guess that's the price paid for creating a Hatchery out of nothing but PSI energy.

My new Drone finished while I waited. With half an hour left, I took a seat against the side of the Hatchery. My new Drone trundled up to my side without my ordering it to do so, much to my surprise. It brushed up against me and took up a position next to me. I reached up a hand to one of its sails. It gave a clicking sound that almost sounded like a coo, as it stretched to give me better access. I chuckled and spent the time idly petting the Drone as it basked in my attention to it.

A mental spike of alarm from the Overlord drew my attention, startled that I'd almost entirely forgotten about it. I shouldn't really be surprised though. It's making far less mental noise than the Drone is. Almost like it was keeping silent vigil, like a sentry. Its focus is zeroed in on something to the north. I follow its gaze to see a Creeper silently making its way towards the Hatchery from the North, the far side of the Hatchery from where I currently am. Narrowing my eyes, I get up and order my Drone to follow me into the Hatchery. As soon as I step inside, the doors contract closed with a squishing sound. The Creeper goes up the Hatchery. It starts hissing as soon as it gets within range and light flashes from within itself, just as it expands and blows up. A few seconds later, the Hatchery opened up its doors once more.

Sighing, I make a note to myself that if I do get some more Bio-Energy tonight, the first thing I need to do is get in a Spawning Pool and some Zerglings. Fast as they are, I'm pretty sure a Zergling could shred a Creeper before it could even think to explode. Until I get some defenses though, I decide to wait inside the Hatchery, keeping an eye on the developing Evolution Chamber.

Time passes, and with only a minute left to go until the Evolution Chamber is finished, I step back outside with my Drone and watch, counting down the seconds. As soon as it hits zero, the Zerg Coccoon splatters open as the Evolution Chamber rips it open, expanding to a size far larger than the cocoon was. It's not as large as the Hatchery, but it's plenty big enough for the smaller cocoon it was in. Seeing it with my own eyes, I thought for a moment that I'd get splattered by amniotic fluid and bits of cocoon, but the bits of it seemed to evaporate into the air.

All in all, the Evolution chamber isn't exactly what I expected. Certainly I expected something like this, but I didn't expect for it to look so… gross. The Evolution Chamber, for lack of a better term, looks like a multicolored turd, with a large armored growth growing out of the middle like a large conning tower, with black tubers and growths growing out of the top in the center. The middle growth juts out from rest of the building like a tall wedge. At the front of the wedge is an opening, which I assume is the entrance, and from that opening and all along the edges of the wedge are pipe like tendrils that lead directly into the Creep. They form a ramp of sorts up into the entrance.

Despite its appearance, I can't help but feel a certain warmth towards the Evo Chamber. I'd wonder at it, but I just chalk it up to being the Overmind. It certainly helps that, like the Hatchery, and the other Zerg, it's sending me a steady outflow of love, of which if more and more Zerg keep adding to, I could seriously get addicted. Unfortunately, it seems to be sinking on itself in disappointment as I examine its appearance. I realize with a start that this mental connection means all my Zerg can hear my thoughts. I spare a thought towards being offended at a lack of privacy, only to find I don't mind all that much. More importantly, I quickly send the Evolution Chamber bursts of love and assure it that even with its appearance, I'll still love it as much as any other Zerg. I idly wonder in the back of my mind if I'm not taking to this Overmind thing a little too well, but I push it to the back of my mind to think about later.

Having assured the Evolution Chamber, and making a note to be more careful about my thoughts of my Zerg in the future, I make my way towards the new building. The first thing that hits me is the smell, or lack thereof. I hadn't really thought about it, but the Zerg don't really have a scent to me. Sparing a thought on that, I shrug and decide to just count my blessings and be glad the Zerg don't smell bad, like I'd been mentally prepping myself to brace for.

Walking up the tendrils and into the entrance, I followed a tunnel like hallway similar to the shorter ones in the hatchery. It only goes on for about two meters before it opens up into a room similar to the Hatchery, but smaller. There's a pool in the floor of this room too, but unlike the Hatchery, every instinct in me is telling me not to touch whatever's in it. Curious about this, I pluck a hair from my head and drop it in the pool. The hair promptly disappears as if the pool were quick contact acid. I'm now extremely glad I have those instincts for dealing with Zerg.

There are two doorways to the left and right of the pool. Stepping around the pool to the one on the left, I look inside. The room is like a long rounded hall filled with egg sacs, with tendrils stringing them up to the ceiling, floor, and walls that glow slightly from within. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Turning back, I walk around the pool and look into the other room. This one is a bit unsettling. What looks like a giant lumpy deformed brain is sitting in the middle of the room, with grayish tendrils draped all over the room and connecting to the brain thing. Like the eggs, the tendrils seem to glow, though thanks to the green glow from the pool in the central room, I can't tell what color these are glowing at all.

Shaking my head, I looked around, and double checked the command list for the Evolution Chamber. There doesn't seem to be any special command for evolving the Swarm available. How do I evolve the Swarm then? Something tells me I can, but how? I can only assume it has something to do with the eggs in the other room and this… brain thing.

Closing my eyes, I used my mental map to examine the brain thing more closely. It doesn't look any different… wait, no, now that I'm close enough, there's actually an even stronger glow coming from a central point on the brain about the size of my hand. Focusing on that spot, I touch it, and suddenly my vision turns white.

What's going on? I can't see anything! Well, that's not true. The glowing ball of light is still there. I actually take some comfort in that fact. I can also still see the strands connecting me to my other Zerg. Suddenly there's a dinging sound from behind me, like the kind you'd expect when something just finished. I turned around, and right there is… well, to be honest it takes me a moment to stop staring in disbelief.

It looks like an exact copy of the GUI for the creature creator from Spore, only with a few differences. Unlike this one, all the menus and tabs appear in windows, while an example of each of my Zerg currently available are arrayed before me, with a circular platform in front of them. Superimposed over the platform by my ball of light is a text box. It says:

Extracting most acceptable User Interface from User… Done.  
>Reconfiguring and loading system… Done.<br>Welcome Overmind to the Zerg Genetic Archive.

What? No, seriously, what? Most acceptable user interface… and it took the creature creator from Spore? Does that mean… this must be how I'm supposed to be able to alter the Zerg! Yes! Ok, first things first, changing the Creep. Now how do I… I looked up and down the row of available Zerg, the buildings scaled down to match the size of the units. One spot looked empty, but on closer inspection, all it shows is a purple patch of Creep on the ground.

So, how do I edit this? Do I poke it to select it for editing? I did just that, but nothing happened. I tried nudging it with my foot and it slid a few inches. Eyebrows raised, I bent over and picked up the Creep. It's like it's frozen or something, and it doesn't weigh anything at all. Shrugging, I carried it over to the circular platform and set it down. Immediately, it snapped into place in the center of the platform.

Grinning at the fact that everything seems to be working just as I hoped, I examined some of the available tools. There's a magnifying glass button with a plus and minus. I poke the symbol to see what happens. Holding the plus made the platform as well as the patch of Creep on it, steadily increase in size. Neat. Though if this thing took the User Interface from my mind, does that mean it'll intuitively respond to what I want it to do?

Curious, and feeling like Tony Stark, I raised my hands, and placed them a few inches apart so I could still see the Creep between them and spread my hands apart. The Creep suddenly increased in size by how much I'd moved my hands. Moving them closer together made it smaller! Brilliant! I moved my hand and made a pinching motion with my fingers. The representation of the Creep followed my fingers and I placed it back in line, letting go to set it down. This is brilliant!

Using the pinch again, I placed the Creep back, then using my hands, I made gestures to cause the Creep to lift up, turn around, and flip upside down, all with my hands as if I were manipulating an invisible ball. Satisfied with the controls, I turned my attention to the tabs on the left sidebar. If it's just like Spore, then each tab should hold a list of parts. Using finger gestures, I selected each one rather than actually touching the icons on the tabs. It worked! There's a tab for just about everything, limbs, eyes, mouths, hands, feet, spikes, armor, there's just about everything here.

To my surprise though, all of the parts shown are only those that I could see on any of the Zerg currently available. I did notice with some surprise that there's a tab at the very end with only one thing in it. It's so small I can hardly tell, so I pinch it to bring it closer. I realize, with some shock and surprise, that it's a copy of the hair I dropped into that pool of acid earlier. Is that how I'm supposed to add parts to add to the Zerg? I guess that makes sense, even if you take some of the missions from Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm into account. But what about the parts from the other buildings currently not in this list? Is that why those buildings were blanked out in the list? Do I have to recreate them? No, something tells me they'll show up if I morph a Drone into the building required for them to appear. I bet then the building or unit will show up here in this list.

Still holding the piece of hair, I placed it back in the Miscellaneous tab at the end. Perhaps I'll find a better place for it later. Looking at the spread before me, I examined the tabs in the right sidebar. Just like in Spore, there are three tabs, for color, texture, and patterns. So far the patterns available seem to correspond with what my Zerg already have available. Pinching up one in particular, I can actually feel it under my hands. I wonder for a moment what texture this is from, before I somehow answer myself that this is the webbing in the Drone's sails. I'd ask myself how I know this, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of these gut instincts I keep getting.

Curious, I wondered if there's a search feature available. Since this is all from my head, I decide then and there that for a search feature, I'd want to be able to think of something and the thing I'm thinking of would just appear. Testing out this theory to see if it would work, I decided that I want to see the texture of the Zergling tail. Suddenly both sidebar changed, and two separate parts were highlighted. One is the tail of the Zergling, the other is the Texture I wanted. That worked even better than I hoped it would!

I looked around to see if I missed anything. There appears to be a trash can in the top right corner of the right tab, and also beneath the right tab in the lower right corner is a counter that currently says zero. In the lower left is another counter that's displaying my current Bio Energy available. I wonder what the lower right counter is for. I think I might know, but just to confirm, I pinched up the Creep and put it back in place, then grabbed the Drone and put it in the Circle. The counter didn't change. Grabbing a random part, I attached it to the back of the Drone. The part connected, and then the counter changed to read 100 Bio Energy. It's changed from white to red though. Pretty sure that means I don't have enough Bio Energy to do that. Considering the other counter reads 35 Bio Energy to show how much I have available, that's not really a surprise. Removing the part drops the cost back to Zero and the number turns white again.

Looks like I'm going to need to get some more Bio Energy before I can really start to change the Swarm in any significant way. Let's just hope I get another batch of it come midnight again. Now if I could just figure out why I'm getting the Bio Energy, maybe I can go about increasing how much of it I get. Until then, I don't really have anything available that would allow me to change the Creep from harmful to beneficial. Well, if dumping stuff into the acid pool will get me new parts, then I better start collecting stuff. Actually, that gives me an idea… if I start adding objects that aren't necessarily biological, could I still create creatures that way? After all, bone and finger nails grow right? And crystals grow. Maybe I can turn the larvae into mini manufacturing plants. I add it to my list of ideas to explore.

Having finished using the Zerg Genetic Archive, I wondered how I'm supposed to get out. Do I just say exit, or focus on leaving? Suddenly the white faded, leaving me standing in front of the brain thing back in the Evolution Chamber. Blinking, I dropped my hand and stepped back. Well that had been enlightening.

Stepping outside, I started grabbing random stuff to throw into the acid pool so that I could test if I could use any of it to create things. I ended up grabbing some dirt, a rock, leaves, a tree branch, water, and some grass. I tossed them into the pool, then checked the archive to make sure the items got added to the Archive, just to make sure.

So far everything's going well. It's at this point I wondered if I could get a whole tree into the pool, but then, how would I even get it through the door? Maybe it would work if I brought it in, in pieces? With nothing else for it, I turned to my Drone, only to stop and stare. The Drone looks like it's grazing, rooting about the Creep for choice pieces to eat. I knew on some level that it'd be highly unlikely that it would just sit there like it does in game, but at the same time that's exactly what I expected.

Shaking my head from the unexpected surprise, I called my Drone over and had it dig up a tree, roots and all. Out of sheer curiosity, I gave the Drone the order to drag the entire tree into the Evolution Chamber just to see what would happen. I wasn't sure if it would work. Imagine my surprise when the Drone promptly started spitting globs of sticky goop all over the tree then manipulating it until it looked to be crushed down into an easily managed package. The whole thing reminded me of a spider wrapping up a bug into a much smaller cocoon. The Drone then picked it up, then carried it over to the Evolution Chamber and dropped it into the acid pool with a rather anti-climatic plop.

As soon as it finished, the Drone made its curious clicking noise at me, looking at me eagerly, as if asking me if it did a good job. I patted it on the head absentmindedly, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it collapsed a tree five times its size into something no bigger than itself.

Finally snapping out of it, I hurried over to the brain room to see if it actually worked. Lo and behold, upon entering the Zerg Genetic Archive, there is now one entire tree stored within a new tab called 'Projects'. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I'll come up with some idea I guess.

Exiting the archive, I left the Evolution Chamber behind, though not before pulling a loose thread from my shirt and dropping it in the pool as well. Perhaps I'll be able to grow clothing. Wouldn't that be something?

With the amount of time I've spent in the Archive today, night has already started to fall. I eyed the Overlord floating above the Hatchery, disappointed that I didn't get a chance to check it out today, with how distracted I was.

'Tomorrow big guy.' I thought at it. It gave a soundless feeling of acknowledgement in return. Satisfied, I walked into the Hatchery, well ahead of the spawning horde of monsters. I settled down into my niche in the floor and soon fell asleep.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 35  
>Support – 116_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Overlord  
>1x Drone<em>

AN – The Zerg do actually have a smell, but the Overmind can't smell them because he's still human for all in intents and purposes. The most a Zerg would ever smell to a human would be musty, like dust in an attic. That because just like bugs, humans don't have the capacity to translate bug/Zerg pheromones into something their brain can understand, so to a human, Zerg, as well as most bugs, just don't smell.


	6. Chapter 6 - Night 3

I awoke to mental cries of distress. It takes a moment to come to full wakefulness, but once I do, I concentrate on the source of the cries of pain. It only takes me a moment to get a fix on where it's coming from. Something is attacking my Evolution Chamber!

Quickly, I focus my vision outside the Hatchery towards the distressed building. I frowned at the sight of the Creepers pouring in from one side of the clearing and detonating on my Evolution Chamber. None of them are approaching from the opposite side. I can only discern from what I'm seeing that the Creepers would be attacking my Hatchery otherwise, which is a far cry tougher than my Evolution Chamber.

A quick glance to the sky shows I can't have been asleep for only a few minutes. My eyes feel like lead, but the adrenaline is keeping me awake. Despite the short amount of time, the sheer volume of Creepers has already brought my Evolution Chamber down to 75%. There's a rough scattering of Zombies and Skeletons around, but they're still not doing much, and they're spread around so they're attacking my Hatchery as well.

Another cry of pain brings my focus back to the Evolution Chamber. I grit my teeth in frustration. What should I do? Sending my Drone out there to distract them will just result in a dead Drone. Same result if I just ran out there. Maybe my Overlord could do something? But what? Overlords were only good for scouting, detection, and troop transport in the game. The first two won't do anything, but the last one…

I had an idea. Obviously the Overlord didn't just land to get the Zerg it carries inside itself. Considering other methods the Overlord may do so, brings to mind all those tendrils floating beneath it. They can't be useless. It takes a little bit of coaxing to get the Overlord down there, trying to convey what I want it to do. Finally, it floated down within range, and just as I'd hoped, it started to pick up Creepers with its many tendrils. Rather than try and store it within itself, which it couldn't do anyway, the Overlord started chucking them and throwing them about, even hitting them away as the Overlord seemed to start figuring out for itself what I wanted.

I shouted a rather foul expletive when the Creepers began to shift targets to the Overlord instead. Within a minute, the Overlord's tendrils were a mess, and I ordered it up out of range to regenerate. A couple Creepers still had the Overlord targeted and so milled about in its shadow. The rest went back to demolishing the Evolution Chamber, the ones beneath my Overlord getting caught in the blast. That's perhaps the only reason my Evolution Chamber isn't dead yet. The Creepers are doing as much damage to themselves as they're doing to their target, each Creeper killing anywhere between 1-4 of its fellows along with itself.

Well that plan didn't work. No Overlord, no Drone, no me. What else can I do? Creepers were easy enough to stop in Minecraft. All you'd need is a wall, ranged, or be particularly agile while hacking away. What I wouldn't give for some Lings… Maybe I could build up an emergency wall? But with what? My first thought is to have the Overlord rip up trees and pile them up, but it's still healing. With my luck, the Creep would just absorb the lot of them anyway. I next think of rocks, which leads me to the idea of the Overlord dropping boulders on top of the Creepers. An entertaining idea, but not very feasible. If only the Creep would absorb those blasted Creepers before they explode!

Wait, the Creep! That's it! Maybe I could make walls out of Creep! I turned my attention to the Creep and thought, how to go about this? Almost as soon as the thought enters my head, the Creep suddenly starts to recede and bulges of it start appearing around the Hatchery and the Evolution Chamber. Is that it? No orders to the Hatchery or anything? I just have to think about it? Confused, I cast my eyes at the Hatchery. It seems to be concentrating on the Creep. For that matter, so is the Overlord, though it's also focused on the Hatchery. Is the Overlord guiding the Hatchery through what I want? Bless the micromanagers of the Swarm! The Creep is flowing up, and the Creepers are having a harder time getting to the Evolution Chamber.

The Evolution Chamber is down to 50% and it's bleeding in places. Luckily, the Overlord and Hatchery were just fast enough. The Creep has completely receded and a wall has formed up around the very edges of the Evolution Chamber and Hatchery. There's just enough to keep the Creepers out, and they're milling around, trying to reach their target, and failing to do so!

Ever so slowly, the Evolution Chamber seems to be regenerating and the bleeding is slowing to a stop. Its cries of mental pain are lessening, and I sigh in relief. As things start to wind down, the crowd of Creepers grows steadily larger, until eventually no more can fit into the clearing. I'm so glad they don't have a target to attack. That many Creepers would probably be the equivalent of a mininuke if they all went off.

The Evolution Chamber's bleeding has finally stopped. I'm not really sure why it's bleeding in the places it is though. Some of the spots weren't even near any blasts! I wish I had someone to ask about these things. All I've got are hunches. Considering where it's bleeding from and the fact that there isn't a bloody hole blown into its sides, I'm guessing the hit point bar I'm seeing next to my buildings and units actually means something. Perhaps it's a measure of its ability to regenerate and protect itself rather than actual health points? Perhaps the lower the bar, the more its ability to regenerate injury is overwhelmed until it finally collapses in on itself?

After spending a few minutes watching to make sure the Creepers don't find a way in, the adrenaline start to wear off. Exhausted, I drop back down into the dip I'm using as a bed. Eyeing the Creep Wall on my mental map, a feeling of loneliness washes over me. How did that wall form up? What did the Overlord do to make that happen? Why were there so many Creepers? Why am I here? So many questions and no answers. It'd be nice to at least have someone to talk to about all this. I could try to monologue to my Overlord, but I haven't hit that level of crazy yet.

My only consolation in all this is that it's almost impossible to feel depressed or down for very long. It's like my Zerg are trying extra hard to make me happy whenever I feel down. Waves of warmth are flooding over their connections to me and are buoying me up. I don't think I could feel unhappy for very long even if I wanted to. I'd hate to see how they'd react if I ever felt angry at something… I'll have to keep a tight rein on my Swarm if that ever happens…

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 35  
>Support – 116_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Overlord  
>1x Drone<em>


	7. Chapter 7 - Day 4

I slowly came to as sunlight filtered through the top of the Hatchery. Memories of last night had my eyes snapping open and looking over everything outside. The back of my mind idly notes how quickly I'm able to do this now, like switching between two sets of eyes almost. The rest of me is concentrated on the sea of Creepers surrounding my not-quite-yet-a-Hive-Cluster.

Pushing the terror the sight inspires out of my mind, I focus on the problem. How to get rid of them? Chasing them off requires cats, killing them requires weapons, and getting them to blow themselves up requires bait. Of the three, I only have bait. Also of the three, that's the absolute last resort I'd rather not use ever.

Unfortunately it seems I don't have a choice.

Swallowing, I ordered my Overlord down. It fell upon the Creepers, hitting them every which way. Some of those hit exploded upon landing. The rest switched targets and made for the low flying Overlord. Immediately upon the Creepers starting to hiss and emit light, I ordered the Overlord to fly out of there as fast as possible! It got just clear of the blast radius, but it didn't escape unscathed. I cringed at the pain my Overlord is in. Its tendrils have been blasted to smithereens. My only consolation is that even now it's healing back up, since the Overlord hadn't been injured enough to be killed.

Luckily, that one maneuver effectively cut the force of Creepers by nearly a third. Unfortunately, this also left the land normally covered by my Creep covered in pockmarks and craters. Normally the Creep would simply absorb the blast, any damaged part of the Creep being quickly absorbed into itself and recycled if what I was seeing when that happened was correct. Hopefully the craters won't create problems for when the Creep gets redistributed once more.

It took a good while for the Overlord to finish off the Creepers using these hit and run tactics. After the second run, I let the Overlord take over rather than micromanaging its actions with getting rid of the Creepers. To my surprise, it acted far more aggressively than I had it before. I'd almost view it as a demonic squid from hell if I were on the receiving end of that. Either way, it was effective, surprisingly so, and it had me reevaluating the Overlord's place in the Zerg military structure. Anything that dangerous shouldn't be relegated to simple floating sensor balloons or troop transport.

With the Creepers taken care of, I need to decide what to do next. Upon checking, I quickly determined I received another 300 bio energy promptly on midnight. I think it's safe to assume at this point that will be a regular thing I can count on happening. I'm assuming the extra ten from the night before was from all the stuff I'd gathered up and thrown into the pool in the center of the Hatchery. I toy with the idea of a Drone supply chain gathering resources to supplement my 300 income, but dismiss the idea with thoughts of all the monsters shredding my Drones to bits. No, making supply chains wouldn't be safe. Better to find out how I'm getting this 300 Bio Energy every night and find a way to increase it.

Ultimately, getting more Bio Energy is a means to an end. My overarching goal is to protect the Zerg, my new family, and in order to do that, I have to neutralize the threat the monsters of Minecraftia pose. The Creep Walls are effective for now, but I can't rely on them. Normally they might be enough, but last night was anything but normal. That many Creepers were absolutely ridiculous, and if they had all blown up at once, I'm fairly certain this would be ground zero for a crater the size of a baseball field.

No, I'm in a war against Minecraftia it seems, and fighting defensively isn't going to cut it. I need to be proactive in this, which means area denial. I have to stop the monsters from being able to spawn. That means light and lots of it. That means either torches or glowstone, and since this world seems to operate on far more realistic rules than a game, I doubt I can make ever burning torches. So I need to get to the Nether. Until that point, I'm stuck playing a defensive game.

In that case, I need more Creep. More Creep means more space means more buildings means Zerg units I'll eventually need for an incursion into the Nether. After that, well… one thing at a time. More Creep is easy enough. I just need more Hatcheries or I could throw up some spore colonies. Or perhaps I could do both. I was always kind of partial to setting up a square formation of four Hatcheries in the middle of my Hives whenever I played Zerg in Starcraft. I think I'll do the same here.

Unfortunately, Hatcheries, the precursors to Hives, are too expensive. At 300 a pop, I could make one a day, but that's too slow for my taste. By the time four days passed, my walls might be breached and my Zerg dead. No, I need to get more Hatcheries quickly, and there's only one way to do that for now.

Anticipating my actions, the Overlord saw to the Creep walls dispersing as I stepped outside. I smiled gratfully at it, and it thrummed over the connection, pleased to have been helpful. Quickly looking around and doing some calculations in my head, made far easier with the aerial view the Overlord provided me, I judged the perfect spots for my three new Hatcheries, placing them close enough together, but giving them enough room to grow and allow units to slip about between them. I'm hoping by the time they all become Hives that their entrances will press together to form one massive building of a sort.

After placing the first Hatchery, I had to wait a few moments to regain enough Psi energy to create another one. At .5 energy per second, I had to wait precisely 100 seconds between calling up a new Hatchery in fact. I got bored while waiting and figured it out, so sue me.

With that finished, I had three new Hatcheries on the way that wouldn't be finished until probably sometime just after sunset. I worried that another Creeper rush might cause problems in that case. I checked to see if the Creep wall could form effectively around all four Hatcheries as well as the Evolution Chamber. It did for everywhere except for the far most side of the corner Hatchery from the first Hatchery. The Creep wall still raised, but it wasn't high enough to stop a Creeper. Hopefully having that as a bottle neck would prevent the destruction of any of my buildings.

I still have 300 more Bio Energy to work with after all that though. I could make some Drones, but I won't need them for resource gathering. My one Drone could turn into another building, but until my Hatcheries are done, I want to hold off on that. That leaves me with making some Overlords or saving it till tomorrow.

The decision was fairly easy, and soon I had three new Overlords floating up in the sky along with my first one. For all I know, having extra Overlords as support might turn the tide later.

With that out of the way, I suddenly found myself with nothing to do. At least when playing Starcraft, there really wasn't any downtime between building things, since it was usually done in the span of minutes if not seconds. With nothing to build until tomorrow, I suddenly found myself at a loss for what to do for the rest of the day.

I took to wandering around, idly noting things as they caught my interest. I observed the trees, listened to the wind, ate some apples, did my business down stream of the river, and tried my very best not to feel bored. Boredom was actually not that hard to stave off with my other Zerg around. Just observing them usually revealed new little things about their character.

For one, my Overlords didn't just sit there and float in place doing nothing. They took it upon themselves to drift about over the Hive Cluster on their own. I also noted to my amusement that a pecking order seemed to have established, with the first Overlord being alpha among the others.

I noticed that my Zerg buildings do indeed seem to breathe. The rhythmic swaying accompanied by the sound of the wind through the trees off the Creep was rather soothing actually. I took turns watching the Creep and the sky as well, noting with some interest that the Creep, like the Overlords, didn't just hold still either. I can see it swirl about, with patterns like the clouds, ebbing and flowing like tides in the sea. I might have never noticed if I hadn't stopped to look. While observing this, I noticed that I'd unconsciously taken to breathing in sync with my Zerg buildings. That's when I noticed that they actually do breathe in sync, almost like a slow heartbeat. I wondered if they were matching me and not the other way around, but speeding up my breath did nothing, so I cast my attention elsewhere.

I spent hours like this, simply meditating, sometimes napping. I was eventually forced inside by a Creeper coming out of the tree line. One of the Overlords took care of it before it got anywhere near me, but I didn't want to take any chances. I could observe my surroundings and the Hive itself just as easily from inside as I could outside, what with my mental map thing I have. What should I call that anyway? My Mental Map? Oversight? Huh, actually that last one has a nice ring to it.

I practiced a bit with my Oversight and found out if I relaxed my focus while looking around, I can actually see everything from the perspective of all my Zerg at once. It reminds me slightly of when I unfocus on what's directly in front of me and use my peripheral vision to look around. I found it even works when I have my eyes open, though it gives me a weird kind of double vision that took a while to get used to. I can still will it all to go blank when I close my eyes for sleep though thankfully. I don't want to practice this and suddenly never be able to sleep again. I'd get really cranky really fast.

Eventually night fell, and with it came another swarm of monsters. Once more, the amount of Creepers was highly unusual, but this was balanced out by an equally large number of other monsters. Spiders, Skeletons, Zombies, and Endermen all showed up, though not as many Enderman as the others. As I'd expected, the lower part of the Creep Wall didn't stop the monsters from coming in, but it did act as a funnel. At the very least no monsters reached my Evolution Chamber. They were too busing attacking the closest Hatchery.

The Zombies and Skeletons were once again ineffectual, the Spiders were swarming over everything and not doing much at all, the Creepers blew up on the Hatchery, and the Enderman were highly distracted. Turns out having a creature floating up in midair that can see 360 degrees around itself isn't very productive towards preventing said creatures from staring directly at any Enderman. All of them were soon hanging in the shadows of my Overlords, gazing impotently upward and shaking in a mad rage. I don't dare let my Overlords get any closer to the ground in case the Endermen warp up to them and try to steal something important, like their brains or something.

Eventually the Hatchery's finished, and with it, the Creep wall raised high enough to block all enemies from entering once more. Only this time, with the fields of Creep from the Hatcheries overlapping each other, there was enough to form a Creep wall AND have the Creep spread out as far as it usually does.

With nothing else to worry about at this point, I eventually drifted off.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 35  
>Support – 134_

_**Entities  
><strong>__4x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>4x Overlord  
>1x Drone<em>


	8. Chapter 8 - Day 5

The first thing I noted upon waking up and going through my new morning routine at the river is an income increase. Where before my Bio energy increased by 300 at midnight, now it's increasing by 330. What changed? The only thing I did was add more Hatcheries. Could it be the Hatcheries themselves are giving me bio energy? But then why would the first one give me 300 and the next three only give me 10 between themselves?

Then it hit me. The Creep! Building Hatcheries expands the Creep! Building three more Hatcheries where I did only expanded the Creep a little, resulting in only a small gain in Bio Energy! So, if I expand the Creep, I get more Bio Energy! That's the going theory anyway. I'll have to test it to make sure.

In that case, I need to expand the Creep by a lot! Excited, I was just about to order my first Drone out to become a Creep Colony when a realization halted me in my tracks. Spreading the Creep as it is now will just result in destroying more of the ecosystem. More than the Zerg units running about, the Creep is the true reason the Zerg are known as a plague on the universe. I can't let the Creep grow out of control. But at the same time, Minecraftia is a huge planet. I don't remember the exact numbers from when a friend and I calculated it, but I do remember it's roughly 7 times larger than Earth. I'm sure a planet that large could handle one patch of forest disappearing temporarily? Heck, Earth has lost way more than that thanks to human expansion and it's doing alright.

My enthusiasm tempered by caution, I ordered my Drone out to make my first Creep Colony. I figure a ring of them with enough space for an Ultralisk to pass between them along the outer edge of where the Creep is currently should be good. Maybe another ring beyond that too.

At 50 a pop for both Drones and Creep Colonies, I called up three more Drones and morphed them into Creep Colonies at the cardinal directions around my Hive. 20 minutes later, the amount of space the Creep covers has practically doubled. I also decided to keep my current Creep Wall up as a passive defense and let my Overlords control when and where they raise and lower depending on where I or my units are going.

With only 15 Bio Energy left available, I once again had the rest of the day left open to fill up my time. I briefly considered exploring, but doing that without some body guards has bad idea written all over it. Better wait till I get some Zerglings and/or Hydralisks before I go anywhere. Probably want to get my Overlords capable of troop transport as well so I have someplace safe to sleep too.

Idly, I called down an Overlord and grasped one of its appendages so it could give me a lift up to the top of the Hatchery, where I sat down on a ridge for a nice view of the surrounding area. I could get the same view easily with my Oversight, but there's something special about actually being up this high that just being able to see from this viewpoint doesn't give. The wind whipping me certainly feels nice as well.

It was while I was up there that I considered just how easily I could slip and fall from this height. Such a fall might even kill me. I realize I can regenerate just as well as any of these Zerg can, but I'm still susceptible to mortal wounds, not to mention the pain would be rather unpleasant. It's way too easy for me to get hurt at this point. Throwing myself into the analysis pool in the Evolution Chamber might let me upgrade my body, but that would be rather counterproductive, though killing myself in the process of trying to make myself harder to kill is rather ironic. I spend a few moments laughing at myself at the thought.

Seriously though, how would I go about upgrading myself? Beyond a memory of Infested Kerrigan in a cocoon, I don't have any real ideas. I file that away as things to figure out later for now.

I nearly fall off the Hatchery from falling asleep for nothing to do. I catch a lift from an Overlord down to the ground at that point, carefully ignoring how far up I am. It's a lot easier to travel up the side of something than it is to go down.

With nothing else to do, I spend my time napping and watching my Overlords float around through Oversight. As sunset comes, I order my Overlords to raise a Creep wall surrounding each Creep Colony. To my surprise, doing so doesn't cause the Creep to recede very much. Maybe since Creep colonies are so much smaller than Hatcheries it doesn't take as much Creep to form a wall around them? Another going theory anyway.

I watched as the monsters showed up to attack my burgeoning Hive Cluster. I notice a distinct lack of Enderman, and instead there seem to be an abnormally large number of Spider Jockeys. Not that Skeletons firing arrows from Spiders are any more effective than their normal counterparts, but just in case, I order my Overlords to raise their altitude up higher to get out of any possible range. Other than that, the rest of the monsters simply milled about, unable to get to my buildings. Satisfied, I drifted off to sleep.

-END CHAPTER-

AN – If it hasn't become obvious by now, the information below this Author Note are notes to help me keep track of things going on in the background of my story, and it doesn't matter if you read it or not. As such some of this info may change periodically to reflect different things depending on what I'm writing at the time. I've no plans to go back and retroactively add the info here to previous info sections of the story, but if you do read it and find I made errors in my math and point it out to me, I will probably go back and fix it.

Btw, I'm not a member of Green Peace or an ecologist. I'm just an author dealing with a race that can easily wipe out an entire planet's ecosystem in days if left unchecked.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 15/Income rate - 380  
>Support – 034_

_**Entities  
><strong>__4x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>4x Creep Colony  
>4x Overlord<br>_

_Earth  
>510,000,000 KM^2<br>510,000,000,000,000 M^2_

_Minecraftia  
>3,600,000,000 KM^2<br>3,600,000,000,000,000 M^2_

_Huh. Converting from meters to kilometers in regards to surface area is weird… a thousand M in a KM, but a million M^2 in a KM^2. I did not know that before._


	9. Chapter 9 - Day 6

The dawn of a new day. I yawn and stretch, giving my Zerg what is now becoming a reflexive habitual check via Oversight. No problems seem to be around. I'm guessing my Overlords have taken to their new combat roles rather well then. I wonder briefly why they don't attack during the night, but I figure since I don't want them to, they're taking their cues from even my unspoken orders. That's convenient, but also alarming. The idea that I might get frustrated at someone and suddenly that someone is shredded to bits by an overeager Zergling is something I don't want at all. But then, if I already don't want that to happen, doesn't that mean the Zergling won't do that if that situation does come up? I suppose this is one of those, 'won't know until it happens' situations.

A check of my bio energy count has me smiling in vindication. It seems my theory that more Creep equals more Bio Energy at midnight is correct. My income has increased by roughly 60! Not as much as 300, but nearly 400 bio energy a day is kinda nice.

After eating another apple and a piece of creep for breakfast, I toyed with the idea of getting a spawning pool and some Zerglings so I can maybe go find a village. I'm getting a bit tired of eating nothing but apples and Creep for the past few days. In the end I decide against it. Instead, I order up a new Overlord, then send my four newest Overlords north, south, east, and west. Hopefully they'll find something beyond this forest eventually. After a few moments thought, I ordered up a new Overlord and sent it straight up. With something akin to a satellite view I might find a village more easily since they'd probably show up as specks of light at night, plus I already know villages are usually only found in plains and deserts.

With only 295 Bio Energy left I couldn't afford much. I've no real plans to get any Zerglings but the option would be nice. Shrugging, I pop out a new Drone and have it morph into a Spawning Pool right next to the Evolution Chamber, leaving me with 45 bio energy. With those two buildings directly south of my quartet of Hatcheries, and my Creep Colonies at the Cardinal points, my inner OCD and aesthetic designer felt rather pleased. I'm not truly OCD, but I wouldn't be happy if my Hives looked a hot mess either.

With my scouts out and my 'alpha' Overlord patrolling the Hive Cluster, I settled back for another lazy day. At least this time I have more interesting things to watch, such as the ever looming mountains to the west, or the ever growing picture of just how stinking large this forest is. My other four Overlords, barring the one heading towards the ever visible mountains which I'm starting to suspect might dwarf Mt. Everest, have yet to find the borders to this biome!

After the umpteenth passed barely visible cave system and open crevice in the ground, I started to actually try and keep count of just how many of both my Overlords passed by. My northward bound Overlord has spotted several lakes, one of which was rather large, and the one to the east has finally spotted a few of the up-to-this-point-absent herds of cows, pigs, and sheep. One even spotted a lone wolf wandering around, nose to the ground and heading in the rough direction of one of the passed sheep herds.

By sunset my Overlords still hadn't uncovered the borders of the forest, but at least the view was enjoyable. My satellite view Overlord has spotted a few points of light, but I can tell they're from exposed lava flows rather than any settlements. Of much more interest to me is that monsters are spawning near my Overlords as well as myself. I wasn't sure if they were spawning just around me or around all my Zerg. I wonder if the monsters are spawning all over the world? But the villages in game weren't anywhere near prepared to deal with those monsters that showed up. If that's the case, I better be prepared to deal with ruins and ghost towns if I actually do find any settlements.

As for the monsters spawning around, for once it appears to be normal… for the Overlords at least. Around my Hive I've still got an abnormal amount of monsters spawning and heading for my buildings. I can only be grateful that up to this point, the one game rule that seems to apply to spawning monsters that matches from the game is that they can't spawn within a certain distance of myself. So far that's meant that they've only spawned off Creep. At least that was before I put up the Creep Colonies. Now the Creep is spread out far enough that some of them do appear on Creep.

With everything going about the same as it's been for the past few nights, I settle in to sleep reasonably assured I won't have to deal with any crisis… for now.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 45/Income rate - 380  
>Support – 044_

_**Entities  
><strong>__4x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Spawning Pool  
>4x Creep Colony<br>6x Overlord  
><em> 


	10. Chapter 10 - Day 7

It's been a week. The fact that I know this startles me. I think my becoming Zerg must've streamlined my memory, because there's no way I would normally remember exactly how many days have passed. Heck, I'd be hard pressed to tell someone the date without looking at my watch first.

My Overlords had continued to travel throughout the night. While the first four hadn't spotted anything new, my Satellite Overlord had finally reached high enough to spot the southern border of the Forest. Turns out the forest gives way to the beach and an ocean. At that height, the Overlord could also see a distinct curve to the horizon, evidence that the planet I'm on is round, not flat. I suspected that might be the case, considering how realistic this world is, walking skeletons and zombies notwithstanding.

With 425 bio energy to play with, I made four Drones and had them build four more Creep Colonies and placed them at the one, two, four, and five positions around the first ring that'll surround my hive. I can't help but find it amusing in a way that with the Creep Colonies evenly spaced as I have them, there'll be just room enough for exactly twelve of them. This time tomorrow, the first ring should be complete, and then I can get started on the second one.

It was just after midday when the storm hit. It came out of nowhere. One moment the sky was just fine, only slightly cloudy. The next, a solid grey cloud cover above the normal clouds suddenly appeared out of nowhere, blanketing the entire sky, and drowning the entire world in buckets of water. And I mean, the ENTIRE world. My Satellite Overlord is still going up and is just above that particular cloud cover, and the clouds not only appeared literally out of nowhere, to my complete bafflement, but they're covering everywhere too. The entire planet is raining.

I quickly ran inside from where I'd been wandering outside, and wringed out my clothes. I doubt I could get sick, but wearing wet clothes is uncomfortable, so I stripped out of them and laid them out flat to dry. The opening in the top of the Hatchery was still open and rain is blowing in causing a light spray to hit me so I ordered that to close up.

Much to my annoyance, monsters started to spawn in despite it being daytime. Thankfully, they're still proving as ineffectual as before, and the spot of rain free space provided by my Overlord stopped them from warping everywhere. Otherwise I might be staring down an Enderman by accident!

With no urgent battles underway or problems with the local monsters, I simply sat back to enjoy listening to the sound of the rain while trying to get dry. I'm not entirely comfortable sitting naked inside the Hatchery like this, since I know all the Zerg can see me, but I also know they don't really care, so I try to ignore it. Needless to say I felt rather relieved once my clothes were dry enough to put back on, even if they were a bit stiff.

Despite the rain, my Overlords pressed on. I no longer had much of a satellite view, unless an amazing view of the stars on one side and endless grey on the other counts. I doubt they'll make it to the border even by tomorrow though.

Once again, time passed which I spent dozing, listening to the rain, and watching my Overlord's progress. Sad to say, seeing nothing but endless trees and the same mountain range has gotten pretty old. Even so, there's still a certain beauty to enjoy from the sight of the wind whipping through the trees and the rain falling. The sound of it is almost hypnotic…

I can't tell you how lucky I was that I had my eyes closed.

I'd forgotten one key thing about Endermen. When they're out in the rain, any time they're hurt, it distracts them from whatever made them go agro, like a certain Overlord flying overhead. Carefully keeping my eyes closed, I did the only thing I could in this situation. I ordered the Hatchery to open up its top as wide as it can go.

The effect was instantaneous as water sprayed in and misted everywhere, landing on the Enderman. It promptly warped out.

I didn't order it to close back up this time.

Now that the threat had passed, my mind finally calmed down from the instant alert state I'd gone into and seemed to realize just how close I came to dying just now. My limbs shook so badly I couldn't hold myself up anymore, and I carefully sat/collapsed where I stood. I took some comfort in the cool spray washing over me. Possibly becoming sick with some rare from of Zerg flu is secondary to the comfort it gives, knowing so long as I'm under that spray, no Enderman is going to randomly show up.

So I can't really describe effectively at this point just how badly I jumped when a spider fell through the hole in the top of the ceiling and straight into the pool of bio energy and promptly melted away. It was so abrupt, I stared wide eyed. Then I started to chuckle. Then I began to laugh and laugh until I could hardly breathe. The analytical part of my mind notes I might be getting a tad hysterical. The rest of me doesn't care all that much. I just faced death down blind and then had a Spider abruptly commit suicide in my face. It was so ridiculous I couldn't help but laugh at the sheer hilarity of it!

Finally my chuckles ended up tapering off. No more spiders committed suicide via bio-energy pool, but I think that's more due to the Hatchery closing the top off just enough to prevent them from getting in, but still let the rain through. I noted to some surprise at this point that I had tears streaming down my face. I'm crying? I'm actually a little surprised at this. I don't really feel anything at the moment that would constitute the need for tears. If anything, I feel… empty. Like my emotions have disappeared to leave me feeling blank. It's kind of nice actually. I close my eyes and turn my face towards the spray, letting the rain wash away my tears.

My Zerg are feeling concerned. They're outpouring waves of love towards me. I feel a sudden surge of warmth for them that takes the place of the emptiness, and I send feelings of love back. They seem relieved now. Now… now I just feel light. Like today is a new day. I'll take on this whole world if I have to to protect my own. That's a promise. To both my Zerg… and myself.

With almost perfect timing, the rain slowed to a stop and the clouds cleared. I started badly in surprise when I noticed that night had fallen. Where had the time gone? It feels like it's only been a few minutes, maybe an hour… certainly not enough time to go from midday rain to nighttime!

I must've spaced out there… no wonder my Zerg were worried! How long was I just sitting there, staring at nothing? A quick check via Oversight shows nothing has really changed. My Overlords are still heading in their designated directions, though they're doing it backwards, their heads turned towards the direction of the Hive Cluster, towards me. I send another burst of reassurance letting them know I'm fine.

It's at this point that my satellite Overlord draw my attention. I focus my Oversight to it, and I finally see the silver lining to what has turned out to be the end of a fairly crappy day.

A vast plain spreads beyond my forest to the North, and just on the border of my forest is a sight that spreads a smile on my face. Light. A settlement has finally been found.

The rest of the night passed normally. With the rain over, the Hatchery sealed up to prevent Spiders from getting in. I recalled two of my Overlords, keeping the one still going west towards the mountains and north towards the settlement. I directed my Satellite Overlord to keep climbing upward for a better view. Eventually I'll have to stop it before it goes too high though. I don't want it to fall out of geosynchronous orbit over the Hive or else I'm only going to have a high elevation map of the area once a day if that.

That done, I settled down to sleep. It would be a long time coming before I finally drifted off.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 25/Income rate - 390  
>Support – 044_

_**Entities  
><strong>__4x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Spawning Pool  
>8x Creep Colony<br>6x Overlord_


	11. Chapter 11 - Day 8

For once I didn't rise with the sun. Despite the late start getting to sleep last night, I ended up sleeping well past sunrise. I guess I needed it, all things considered. I did a quick checkover of my Zerg. At the rate they're going, my recalled Overlords should get here sometime tonight.

With my morning rituals completed, I contemplated what to do. 420 bio energy is enough for a Hatchery, and while I'd like to finish the Creep ring, I really need to get started on spreading more Creep. Something tells me finishing the ring will give me 10 more bio energy income, but if I set a new Hatchery down a precise distance away from this Hive, I'll be getting an extra 300 to that income. 10, or 300. No brainer right?

Technically I could do both, considering my ability to spawn a hatchery using PSI energy, but that would take 12 hours to finish, putting it well beyond nightfall, and I don't want a defenseless Hatchery to be hit by the sheer amount of Creepers that have been running around lately.

Speaking of Creepers, here comes another one. My Overlord promptly descends out of the sky and kills it. Considering how slow Overlords are it's kind of sad to watch, even if it does use those tendrils to great effect once it's actually in range. Maybe that's why they're never used for offense in the game. Nearly everything is faster than an Overlord. Well I'll just have to fix that, but later.

Watching it reminds me though. If I'm going to make another Hatchery, it's going to need defenses of some sort, preferably an Overlord. Unfortunately if I'm going to be purchasing a Drone and a Hatchery, 350 bio energy total, that only leaves me 70 bio energy to work with. Not to mention I'd really like to get some body guards, particularly if anything like yesterday happens again.

I shuddered and thought about waiting a day and putting all my bio energy into some Zerglings for now. After a bit, I decided against it. As fast as they are, a pair of Zerglings should serve well to defend both me and the new Hatchery. Considering a Hatchery born of bio energy only takes two hours to complete, I have some time though to check an idea I had last night. If it works, this may be more important than building a Hatchery right now.

I quickly called my Overlord down to hover just over my head. Now with a guard and lookout, I cautiously stepped off the Creep. I then bent down and using my hands I got to work. I worked my hands into the dirt and pulled up a large patch of grass, roots and all.

With my collected piece of turf in hand, I made a beeline for the Evolution Chamber. Once inside, I stopped in front of the Analysis pool, and without any ceremony, dropped the whole thing in, dirt and all. That done, I connected myself to the Zerg Genetic Archive in the left brain room. Once there, I opened the tab for new projects, and found the patch of grass right next to the tree I'd thrown in once upon a time.

Grinning, I maneuvered the example of Creep onto the circular platform. Then I took the representation of grass and planted it into the Creep. I then expanded the grass to cover all the Creep. To my surprise, the grass seemed to shift and change as it snapped in place. It seemed to grow more green and vibrant, becoming thick and lush. Like my Overlords before taking what I wanted from my subconscious, I think this interface is taking my idea straight from my head and integrating it.

See, I had the idea that if the Creep overtook the current ecosystem, why couldn't it just replace it with a copy of the ecosystem it's replacing, only better and improved? That way it could be argued that the ecosystem isn't being destroyed but made better, plus with the grass directly integrated in the Creep, it'll actually thrive and reach a symbiosis between the two, that way the land beneath will be enriched rather than be stripped barren as the Creep leeches out nutrients and minerals, since the grass'll utilize both and create a cycle of replacing nutrients as fast as they're removed. That's the idea anyway. Probably not how grass works in reality, but considering what I'm looking at now the idea seems viable. Now if I add trees to this, the problem of the Creep destroying the ecosystem will be completely fixed. However, I can't do trees yet since I don't want to give any mobs shelter from the sun to spawn in and avoid burning away. Better wait until I get some glowstone into the Creep before I do that.

Grinning, I looked over at the price tag for my changes and I felt my grin promptly drop. 800 Bio energy is the price tag for the change. I hadn't thought I'd changed that much, but I guess I was wrong.

Frowning, I removed the grass from the Creep and watched it drop back to zero. I then placed the grass back on the Creep, watching it, and the counter closely.

Upon initial placing of the grass, the counter jumped to 100 bio energy. Then as it changed to become more thick, vibrant, and develop symbiosis with the Creep and the ground, that price jumped to 700. Expanding the grass to cover all the Creep jumped it to 800. Why would the first and last change cost 100 a piece but whatever the system did to integrate what I wanted cost 500? I think about it for a while, but I can't come up with any good theories.

Sighing, I exit the Zerg Genetic Archive and leave the Evolution Chamber. I could just save what I have now and wait until tomorrow when I'll have just over 800, but if I just get another Hatchery out, I'll be able to get more Bio energy faster. So I can wait till tomorrow, or wait till the day after. Honestly, it's not like it's that long, plus I'd really like to get some fast guards now rather than later.

Walking back to my Hatchery, I place the order for a pair of Zerglings and a Drone. All three creatures bound over to me once they're born, ready and eager. I frown, noticing that the Zerglings are just barely faster than the Drone. I thought they'd be faster. Then I remembered the speed for Zerglings I'm thinking of requires an upgrade. I glanced over at the Spawning Pool with Oversight and see the available upgrade, metabolic boost for upgrading speed for 300 bio energy. I glance at the Zerglings, considering. Well, it's not like they're slow… it should be ok for now. I'll upgrade their speed later.

I took this moment to examine the Zerglings. They're roughly half my size, equal to the largest of dogs. They're like mini raptors with an extra limb girdle on their back, only instead of wings, they have front facing scythe like blades, pinned back and ready to launch forward at lightning speed like a grasshopper leg. Their eyes glow the same yellow as the Drone and that globe of energy surrounding me in Oversight. They have two large tusks jutting from the sides of their mouth, and they're drooling. Ugh.

One of them cocks their head to the side and another starts wagging its tongue around like it's trying to lick up the drool. It's both gross and comical looking and I chuckle and pat their heads. Now both their tongues are lolling out. Sighing, I pat them both on the heads. Then I pat the Drone as well when it looks disappointed, causing it to perk up, and I barely succeed in not rolling my eyes.

Going to Oversight view, I send the three off to a spot to the north that, if I'm picturing it correctly, when the Drone becomes a Hatchery, with two added rings of Creep Colonies, the outer rings should just overlap. I thought about just having the Creep overlap, but since I plan to set up the hatcheries in a grid formation, that would leave the corners without Creep.

I hit my first snag in the plan immediately. Upon reaching the spot I indicated, the Drone sent a negative sound and directed me to the problem with its eyes. It's staring at the trees. I didn't get it until I noticed a new block of text on my globe of light.

_Not enough room._

I facepalmed. This again? They're just trees! Why can't the Hatchery just push them out of the way as it expands? It's at this point I abruptly realize I'm not going to be able to expand at all without tearing the entire forest down. I spent a few moments calming myself down and reminding myself I'd already come up with a plan to negate that issue.

I pondered the problem for a few minutes, trying to figure out some way to just have the Hatchery build anyway regardless of the trees. Unfortunately my mind is drawing a blank. I sighed. Nothing else for it then. I ordered the Zerglings and Drone to start cutting down the trees.

A few moments later I was gaping at the scene before me. When I gave the order to start clearing a spot in the forest, I didn't expect them to be so… efficient about it! The Drones claws are sheering through tree trunks in one pinch, while the Zerglings are practically dashing about slicing through tree trunks so fast they'd already moved on to the next tree before the first one started to tilt! In hindsight, I should've expected this. Drones normally scrape and break off pieces of solid crystal and Zerglings sheer through tanks and power armor. Trees wouldn't even be a challenge after that.

In what seems like no time at all, a large patch of the forest to the north of my Hive Cluster is strewn with crashed trees and spiky looking tree trunks. Since they're still continuing, I order the trio to stop. After all that, this had better work. I ordered the Drone back to the original spot from before and ordered it to morph into a Hatchery. To my relief it did so this time, pushing aside the fallen logs and seemingly absorbing the tree trunks. I'm grateful for that at least. If I had to dig up the tree trunks too, I'd have been fairly upset. Not that it would have been me doing the digging, it just seems like too much. The effort wouldn't have seemed worth it.

Two hours of waiting and my new Hatchery finished. While I waited, I grew a bit bored and since my Zerglings are busy, I wandered over to the Spawning Pool. It's like a giant elevated fleshy swimming pool. The comparison makes me wonder if it's actually safe to swim in. The smell is a little weird though. It smells tangy and leaves a weird after taste in my mouth just from having breathed it in. With a little less than two hours to kill, I wandered off the Creep and grabbed a stick. Dipping it into the liquid did nothing except swirl it around a bit, kind of like a gross looking green soup.

Shrugging, I stuck the tip of my finger in, knowing that if it melted off I could grow it back. Luckily nothing like that happened. If anything, the liquid feels nice and warm. Pulling my finger out, I watched as the green liquid dripped back into the pool, leaving my finger surprisingly dry, as if I hadn't stuck my finger in at all.

Going off a vague suspicion, I grabbed the stick and rubbed my hand against it, getting bits of wood on my skin. I then dipped my hand in and pulled it out. Squeaky clean! Awesome! But then why didn't it do anything to the stick? I examined it, curious. I again walked off the Creep and rubbed the stick into a patch of dirt. I then went back and stuck the dirty end in and removed it. A clean stick. It seems whatever this liquid is, it separates foreign matter from each other. I bet if I got a microscope, I'd see a bunch of mini bacteria like creatures in the liquid. Now I just have to wonder, what does separating foreign matter from each other have to do with making Zerglings? I haven't the foggiest idea. Least I've got the ultimate way to bathe now though!

Pulling my shirt off, I tested a corner of the sleeve in it. It came out seemingly unharmed, so taking the plunge, I completely submerged the shirt. Pulling it out, I waited for the green stuff to drip off then gave it a sniff. It doesn't smell like anything. Odd. I suppose fabrics wouldn't normally have a smell come to think of it. The 'clean' smell I'm used to must've come from the detergent.

I spent the next hour and a half killing time by floating in the Spawning Pool. Once the Hatchery hatched, I hopped out and called my Zerglings over. A quick tour of my new Hatchery shows everything went smoothly. The Creep is spreading rapidly and absorbing the tree logs lying around. I briefly wonder what the Creep does with the matter it absorbs, but then I figure Creep has to eat too. Maybe that's where it's getting the bio energy from?

I spent the majority of the day floating in the Spawning Pool. It's quite relaxing. I hardly have to hold my breath to stay afloat. In the meantime I watched the progress of my other three Overlords. I finally called a halt to the Satellite Overlord once it got all of the borders of the forest in sight. To say the forest is massive would be an understatement. I have no idea how big it is, but considering if I didn't already know exactly where I am from that Overlord's point of view, I wouldn't be able to tell where my Hive is, it must be flipping massive! I can't see my Hive from up there at all!

Nothing else really interesting happened. I floated around, dozed off a few times, and entertained the idle thought of future plans. I let my imagination run wild a lot when it comes to how I want to evolve the Swarm. I even have a to-do list I keep in my head for the really good ones that cross my mind. I even have a few ideas for how I'd want to evolve myself if I can figure out how. It'll be cool.

Just before night fell, I climbed out of the Spawning Pool and my Zerglings trailed me inside the Hatchery. I watched for a bit as monsters showed up in droves. I'm so glad my Creep walls are doing so well in keeping the monsters out. I'm not sure how long it'll last but I'm glad it's working so far. I soon drop off to sleep.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 20/Income rate - 690  
>Support – 145_

_**Entities  
><strong>__5x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Spawning Pool  
>8x Creep Colony<br>6x Overlord  
>2x Zerglings<em>


	12. Chapter 12 - Night 8

A few hours later, my sleep is interrupted by my north bound Overlord. It's drawn within visual range of the village. Or should I say city? I blinked tiredly in surprise to find, not a small village, but a city fortress surrounded by high walls, and filled with buildings and farmland you'd expect from a normal village, with a church building and well in the center. Impressive! Very impressive!

I can see archers on the walls shooting at monsters. Just as I thought, they're Testificates from Minecraft. The archers are killing monsters as they approach the gates into the city. I can see there are two gates, the other on the opposite side of this one facing the rest of the plains. I noticed that some Zombies have broken through and are pounding on the gate. They're plain and wooden and more zombies slowly break through the suppressing fire from the Archers to reach the gate. I frowned at the sight. That doesn't look good. Slowly, but far slower than they do to doors in game, cracks are forming in the wood as the Zombies pound relentlessly on the gates. The archers are doing their best to kill them, but more keep showing up to replace the old ones.

I'm just about to send my Overlord forward to intervene, when I notice a Testificate wearing purple robes and holding an open book standing on top of the gatehouse. He's chanting something in a language I've never heard before, and it suddenly comes to my notice I can actually hear them through the Overlord as well as see them. Other than the purple robed guy, the archers are speaking English. Or maybe they're speaking something that translates into English for me, I don't know.

The chanting finally ends, and a ball of light the purple robed Testificate was holding gets thrown down into the Zombies in front of the gate. A blast of light and flame is the result, instantly frying the Zombies. My jaw drops open at the sight. Magic! I knew there would be enchanting but straight out magic in Minecraft! I felt giddy at the thought. I looked at the Wizard Testificate only to start when I notice he's looking directly at me, or more accurately, my Overlord, with his eyes narrowed. I hold my breath wondering if he's going to attack.

The moment is interrupted by a shattering explosion. Zombies have broken through the northern gate! Without hesitation, I send my Overlord flying towards the Zombies breaking through. I see the Wizard turn towards the disturbance, then look back towards my Overlord and jump. He looks tense, like he's ready to fire up another ball of magic, but then he seems to scrutinize the Overlord, and tilts his head as he follows the path the Overlord is headed towards and his eyes fall on the Zombies and other monsters breaking in. He glances between my Overlord and the breach, thoughtfully. Before he takes a deep breath and releases it, orders the Archers to keep the monsters off the gate, then rushes along the wall towards the north gate.

I sigh in relief knowing he's not going to attack my Overlord, and I watch as the breach is partially contained by some soldiers with swords and an iron golem. They've stalled the monsters for now, but it's a temporary hold out situation since more monsters are pouring in, thinned slightly by the Archers over that gate.

At a thought, I pause the Overlord and think. With the Wizard already on the way to the breach, what's stopping the monsters from piling up at the other gate and breaking through? I don't think this city can survive both gates breached, and while the wizard and golem should hold the tide at the other gate, the south gate doesn't even have a golem if the zombies should break through.

Decision made, I turn my overlord right around, which is about the only fast thing it can do, and make it head back to the south gate. As I thought, as soon as I get to the other side of the gate, I can see that the defenders there are in the exact situation they were in when I first showed up. How in the world did they survive up until this point? They seem ill equipped to deal with nightly raids, even with the walls. I'm surprised no Endermen are showing up though. I've got a number of them over here. Maybe they're all concentrated here? That would be surprising.

With nothing else for it, I order the Overlord to drop down in front of the gate and bash away the Zombies. The Archers are surprised, and one fires an arrow at the Overlord on reflex but it ignores the hit and continues to bash away the Zombies and occasional Creeper that gets close enough.

Even with all this, the spiders seem to be the biggest threat. They're slowed considerably by the lip in the wall, but unlike in the game, this doesn't stop them. Hardly surprising since spiders in real life can climb upside down. Luckily the swordsmen on the walls are doing a pretty good job of knocking the spiders off the walls before they actually climb on, and the few that make it are killed fairly quickly. Luckily it seems the rare few spider jockeys are stopped normally by the lip of the wall. I guess a spider can't climb upside down while it has a passenger.

As I analyze the situation while my Overlord protects the gate, I notice a few things. A few of the torch sconces seem a little slapped on, like they weren't normally there before, particularly on the roofs of the buildings in the village and a few other areas around the farm land. With a sinking feeling in my gut, I start to suspect that these people aren't prepared for nightly raids because until recently, they didn't have to deal with nightly raids. Considering I have, that means there's a high possibility the monsters started showing up at the same time I did.

Frowning, I realized that while there's a possibility it might not be the case, if there's a chance that I'm the reason these folks are fighting and getting hurt every night, I have to do something about it. Unfortunately, the one Overlord I already sent over is all I can do. I could divert the other two returning Overlords but they wouldn't get there for at least a day and a half, the southern one, three. Even if I sent my two Zerglings immediately, it'd still likely take them a day since they're only a little less than twice as fast as the Overlords currently.

_Bio Energy – 710_

I jolted at the sudden text in my face before I realized I'm seeing it on my globe of light. A quick glance upwards reveals that yes, it's midnight. I frown pensively. Normally I'd use that bio energy for more Hatcheries, but these guys need defenders more. Problem is if I send over Zerglings, they're going to have to deal with a days journey of dodging Zombies, Skeleton Archers, Creepers, Spiders, and Endermen, supposing those last don't all hang around my Hive. Would Zerglings even make it all that way? If only they were faster!

Wait, I can make them faster! 60% faster in fact! I turn to the Spawning Pool. 300 Bio Energy to get the upgrade, which'll take an hour and 40 minutes to complete. That leaves me with 400 to put into 16 Zerglings. Good enough for me.

10 minutes later, 16 Zerglings rushed over the Creep walls, not even slightly slowed by the barriers as they scrambled over them at lightning speed. I shuddered and decided to be grateful that I'm not facing rogue Zerg. I'd have been wiped out forever ago if that were the case. I tend to play for the long game, rather than go with quick rushes.

Sad to say I lost a Ling before the group even got off the Creep. Stupid Creepers. I lost two more on the way before the night ended. Finally, the speed upgrade took, and I felt a pulse of energy ripple over my psionic connection from the Spawning Pool and then it moved from me to the Zerglings. Almost a second later the Zerlings muscles visibly tightened, and suddenly the Zerglings took off at speeds that boggled the mind! Certainly not Cheetah speed, but they have to be running at least 20 MPH with the way they're zipping past trees and monsters alike!

Eventually I can stay awake no longer. The thirteen Zerglings aren't taking any more losses, and despite the thrill of their speed from their point of view, I'm just too tired to enjoy it. As for the Overlord defending the gate, nothing has changed there. The north gate is back under control. Between the wizard and golem, they were able to push back the tide and some Testificates are hastily placing up barriers as a replacement for the gate. The archers at the south gate have taken to concentrating on the skeletons and Creepers, leaving the Zombies and few significantly stupid spiders to the Overlord.

I give an order to the Overlords to see to the safe passage of the Zerglings and to wake me if anything changes. I receive noises of affirmation and I promptly fall asleep.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 10/Income rate - 690  
>Support – 7.545_

_**Entities  
><strong>__5x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Spawning Pool  
>8x Creep Colony<br>6x Overlord  
>15x Zerglings<em>


	13. Chapter 13 - Day 9

The Overlords woke me at dawn. I groaned groggily. Evidently the change they woke me up for is the monsters burning away, and the majority of the monsters now being taken care of by the archers. Yawning, I ordered the Overlord to fly away a respectable distance, particularly out of arrow range and hopefully out of magic fireball range too. Just in case, I gave the Overlord an order to warn me if the wizard approaches the Overlord or starts chanting at it.

That done, I turned me attention to the Zerglings. Using a combination of pinpointing them using the web lines connecting them to me and combining that info with the map view from the Satellite Overlord, I was surprised to discover they're a little over halfway there! I gave another order to the Overlords to warn me when the Zerglings get within sight range of the Overlord at the town. I then go back to sleep because it was a late night and it's too darn early!

I eventually wake up about midmorning. I've got to stop staying awake for so long. Today, I get to switch up my morning rituals to take advantage of my Spawning Pool. After relieving myself downriver, I get a drink upriver, eat a piece of creep, and take a dip in the Spawning Pool to get clean.

Normally at this point I'd be doing something with my bio energy for the Swarm, but since I used it all up last night, I've got nothing to do for now.

A warning from my Overlord reveals I thought too soon. Evidently the wizard and a squad of archers are approaching the Overlord. I frown in apprehension, wondering what I should do. My Overlord's out of arrow range, but that wouldn't normally matter anyway. It takes a few explosive missiles to take out an Overlord. Some arrows aren't going to cut it. That fireball on the other hand though… I can't really think of any good reason for the Wizard to come out here, unless he's going to try and attempt to communicate with my Overlord. Not that that would matter. Overlords don't talk, and for all I know if I had the Overlord drop down and draw a smiley face on the ground, it might translate into some sort of insult, and it'd be really hard to help them if they're trying to kill my Zerg. Not to mention my desire to help them if they attempted that would drop considerably.

I decided at this point that caution would be the better choice, and ordered the Overlord to fly up till it would be nothing but a speck to the Wizard. This way I'm pretty sure the Overlord is out of range of anything the Wizard can throw. Unfortunately from this high my Overlord can't really make out details anymore, but it does see the group of dots that is the wizard and archers turn around and head back into the city.

Giving a small sigh, I contemplate what to do now. The Zerglings will be there sometime today, and I don't really have a good way to hide them. Plus the Wizard might get the idea to try and capture one or decide the new monsters are too dangerous to let them live. For all they know my Zerg are luring them into a false sense of security. I wish I could just go there and explain, but I've no method to do so. Overlords aren't capable of transportation yet, and I don't think I can keep a hold of their tendrils for two days straight.

I look over at my Zerglings and ponder. Maybe I could ride one? But no, they're too small. If they were bigger, I might try it, but as it is that's not happening. So no, it seems the best I can do is keep the Overlord out of range during the day and hope the Zergling's speed keeps them from getting caught or killed. And if the Overlord does somehow get captured… I'll see if I can't bust it out with the Zerglings.

Satisfied with that plan, I lean back and relax. My two bodyguards have taken to swimming with me. It's kind of funny to watch and even more so to watch their antics. Occasionally one will get out and attempt to jump on the other from the edge of the pool, or just wrestle around.

It's a little after midday when I receive the alert that the Zerglings are within visual range of the City. I order them hide up in the canopy of the trees as best they can. They pull it off a little easier than I expected, though an experienced tracker would probably notice the gouges in the wood they left climbing up. I guess climbing short objects isn't a problem for them. I'd rather tell them to burrow to hide honestly, but since I don't have the ability yet, tough luck for me.

Time seemed to pass by slowly. I floated around, tossing about ideas of what I could do to show that my Overlord isn't going to hurt anyone. You know, besides the whole helping them defend their city most of the night thing. Hm… in Minecraft, one of the big purposes of the Testificates was to trade with the player. What if I had the Overlord bring something to the city as trade? I thought of pros and cons for that. It might work… but I do remember from vague comments about poaching in Skyrim that animals just on the land of a hold are considered owned by the leader of said hold. I'm pretty sure the city wouldn't look too kindly on a gift of one of its own cows. That's IF they have that type of land ownership system though…

No, it'd be better if I could gift them something they actually have an obvious need for. Something I could see they need even without having to ask… a new north gate would probably be appreciated, but I don't have the tools or know how to make one of those. Maybe new weapons? But where would I get weapons for them? The only weapons the Zerg have are the ones they grew when they were born…

I refocused on the Zerglings with interest, an inkling of an idea in my head. Stepping out of the Spawning Pool, I called my two Zerglings over to me. Once they had appeared in front of me, I approached the closest one and gently grasped it's scythe claw and pulled it forward. It didn't resist and watched me inquisitively.

I ran a hand along the claw. It's sharp, shaped almost like an actual scythe blade, only with both sides sharpened and the point looking extremely dangerous. I carefully stepped around the Zergling and pulled the scythe blade back as far as it could go without hurting the Zergling, ordering it to face forward. I then tapped the side of the claw, seeing if the Zergling would react. It didn't, but that doesn't tell me much.

Gesturing the other Zergling over, I took a hold of its scythe and tapped the blades together. I'm not sure what I expected to happen. Maybe a chipping or something, but in hindsight the test was foolish. I want to see if the Zergling can feel anything in the claw, because if it can be broken off safely, then the Zergling can regenerate a new one, and that leaves one handy Ling Scythe ready and available to be turned into a weapon.

Then again, do I really want to arm these people with Zerg weapons if they turn out to be enemies? Not that a sword made from a Zergling claw will protect them any better from a volley of Hydralisk spines, so it should be ok. Not that It'll matter if I can't break off the blade without hurting the Zergling.

That's when I remembered the connection I have to it. Turning my focus onto that, I opened up the connection, and I was abruptly the Zergling. Normally I can just see from their perspective, but now I'm literally controlling its body as if it were my own. This feels weird, but at the same time completely natural, which is weirding me out even more. How can I be used to something like this?

Shaking my head of the distracting thoughts, I focused on the claw. I brought it forward and tapped it on the ground, then brushed it back and forth against the Creep. Nothing. I don't feel anything. I can feel pressure where the claw connects to the skin, but that's all. Satisfied, I retreated from the Zergling's mind and ordered it to carefully break off its own scythe claw.

The Zergling regarded my order, then seemed to examine its own claw carefully, then leaned forward and bit it off. It gave a yelp and I gasped as blood started spurting out of the broken end for a moment before it started to regenerate. I'd still been tied enough to the Zergling's mind from before though to feel what it felt. Holy crap that hurt! I can't even begin to explain how much that hurt! It hardly lasted that long, but for that instant I felt the most excruciating pain I'd ever felt in my life!

Wincing and flinching, I picked up the scythe it bit off and looked at the end. Reddish tissue coats the inside. Marrow. The claw is a bone. I'd been thinking it was more like my nails and this would be like trimming them, but instead this was more like telling the Zergling to deliberately break a tooth in half. I am NEVER doing that again! I threw my arms around the Zergling and tearfully promised I would never do something that stupid again.

After some time, I collected myself and dried my face. That freaking hurt! Despite that though, I can't deny that I now have my own Zergling Claw for a weapon. If I ever do anything like that again, I'm going to just make a Zerg that sheds claws rather than break them off. Actually now that I think about it, I could have a Zerg specifically grow a claw in the shape of something like a shield or piece of armor and then shed it off! It'd be like a living biological manufacturing plant! I'm definitely adding that to my list of things to add to the Swarm!

With the claw in hand, I made a mental note to have said manufacturing Zerg grow the blade with a handle as well. How am I going to carry this thing? Thinking briefly, I decided to put some of the tricks I learned in Boy Scouts to use. With both Zerglings following along as guards, I stepped off the Creep. Looking around, I found a good sturdy looking branch I can just wrap my hand around. I then had the Zergling cut the branch off for me. I would've done it with my own claw, but considering this is a bare blade, I'd probably just end up cutting my hand open.

Wait, this is just a bare blade… and this branch could be considered a stick… and I AM in Minecraft after all… would it work? With the branch cut down, I had my Zergling cut a piece long enough for three hands to grab, and stripped it of bark.

Stick in hand, I stepped off the Creep, making sure that my two guards are on alert. Using the stick, I drew a 3x3 grid in the dirt. I then carefully laid the stick in the bottom square and the blade overlapping the two top squares. I then looked toward the square I'd drawn to the side, hoping to see my finished blade there. Nothing.

Frowning, I had my Zerglings cut down the tree I grabbed the branch from, then carve a chunk of the trunk off. It took some time and work, but they eventually whittled it into a square shape under my direction, and sometimes direct control. They carved a grid in the top. Nervous, excited, hopeful, I approached the roughly hewn crafting bench and laid out my items like I did before. Nothing. I willed it to work with all my might. Still nothing.

Frustrated, I thought why it wouldn't work. Maybe it only works for the crafting recipes from the game? At least I can test that. I left the stick in place and had my Zerglings carve out two smallish sets of wood planks from the rest of the felled tree that would fit in the squares of the crafting. Fitting those into place, I willed for something to happen. Still nothing. Nadda. Zilch.

Frustrated, I chucked the tree, crafting bench, and small piles of planks onto the Creep, where they were slowly absorbed and destroyed. I had a feeling it wouldn't work. I was hoping that feeling was wrong, since Minecraft style crafting would be dead useful, but no such luck. Back to the original plan then.

Walking over, I grabbed the clawed limb of the Zergling, and used it to cut a notch in the very top of the stick. That done, I took my makeshift handle and the rest of the branch and brought them to the river and set them in to soak. I worried for a moment that the Creep would absorb my tools, but it left them alone, just like it does with my clothes. I'm think the Creep might be aware enough to avoid absorbing what I don't want it to.

After half an hour, I pulled both out of the water and tested the wood. It feels a tad soft and pliable. Satisfied, I took my new blade and wedged it into the notch of my handle. I then took the branch and started stripping the bark off of it lengthwise for rope. With several pieces done, I stripped the outer bark from the inner bark, split that in half, then started braiding the pieces together.

Once I had a decent length of twine, I regarded my half done project, realizing a flaw in my plan. With the entire length of claw being sharp as it is, if I tied the rope around the stick and the blade wedged in the wood to clamp it down, eventually the sharp parts of the claw poking out will cut through the rope.

Fetching a rock from off the Creep and attempt to grind down the base of the claw, only to saw the rock in half on accident. Grabbing another rock, I worked it perpendicular to the blade and attempted to grind it down again. Slowly but surely, the base of the claw began to dull. It took a good hour of work, but I finally got the end roughly dulled. I considered continuing to work at it and just use that as a handle.

I considered the idea, then decided why not? So I placed the sticks and rope aside for now and grinded a notch in between the handle and blade, then continued to grind the base down till my hand could fit comfortably around it, leaving a portion of the bone jutting out to serve as a guard to prevent my hand from slipping onto the blade. All in all, it kind of looks like a tanto that I had at home, only it was black and had no curve. Just to complete the look, I took the rope and wound it around the handle to make it easier to grip, then tied it off.

Finished, I took up the blade and tested the weight in my hand. Bit forward heavy. Not the greatest weapon ever, but it should do just fine, especially as a replacement for a machete. Now to figure out how to stow it? I once made a sheathe out of cardboard, so making a wooden scabbard shouldn't be too difficult. Of course I also had duct tape at the time. Rope and some kind of glue substitute would be handy, but it's getting late.

Forgoing the sheathe for now, I went back inside and set the blade down nearby. I then cast my focus over to the Testificate City in preparation for nightfall. Hopefully this night won't be as long as the last.

With the sun falling below the horizon, I ordered the Overlord back down into sight range of the town, placing it off to the side so it could keep an eye on both gates at once without floating directly over the city and making the Testificates nervous.

As soon as the first monsters showed up, I had my 13 Zerglings leap out of the trees and start mopping up the monsters heading towards the gate, in what essentially amounts to an attack-move order. Once at the gate, I had half of them stay put, putting their backs to the gate in a deliberate manner to show they're there to defend, then had the other half attack-move around the city to the north gate to defend it.

As I'd hoped, word spread faster from the south gate along the wall about the Zerglings than said Zerglings could actually make it around to the North Gate. Once there, I had both groups set up a patrol route just in front of the gate. After a few moments of watching this, I settled back to let the Overlord take control of the battle.

Tired, I gave the Overlord one last order to let me know if anything changes, then went to sleep.

-END CHAPTER-

AN – For those interested, here's a pic of the handle style I based this off of. I do actually own a tanto with a similar style of handle.  
>images . knifecenter .<p>

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 10/Income rate - 690  
>Support – 7.545_

_**Entities  
><strong>__5x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Spawning Pool  
>8x Creep Colony<br>6x Overlord  
>15x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Zergling Metabolic Boost_


	14. Chapter 14 - Day 10

Once more I'm woken up at sunrise by an Overlord. Since it didn't wake me in the middle of the night, I'm assuming nothing happened. A quick look via Oversight proves that assumption true. The only change is that the monsters have stopped showing up. With the battle handled, I had both groups of Zerglings rendezvous at the edge of the forest, the hide in the trees. I then ordered the Overlord back up and out of range of anything the Wizard could do.

…or I would have if I hadn't been startled by a sudden shout at my Overlord's retreating back.

"THANK YOU!"

I paused the Overlord and saw the same Wizard touching his throat and waving at my Overlord. Surprised, I wondered what to do. Then I figured I'd take a chance, and turned the Overlord around and had it wave a tendril back. I could see a smile sprout on the Wizards face beneath his nose and he shouted once more,

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEAVE! WE WON'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU!"

I contemplated his statement, seeing some of the other archers and soldiers on the wall grinning and waving as well, some shouting cheers for their floating protector and its little friends. Bemused, I had the Overlord tilt it's body in the facsimile of a nod and had it float a bit closer to the City, but still kept it out of arrow range.

"I AM LORD JULIAN! THIS IS THE CITY-FORT ARTEMIS! WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL TO YOU! IS THERE ANYTHING WE COULD DO TO HELP REPAY YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE FOR US?"

I wanted dearly to tell him that he didn't need to shout and I could hear him just fine, but again, Overlords can't talk. I made a mental note to give the things the equivalent of a loud speaker or at least a voice box that can do more than make weird noises. That's when I had a realization that made me facepalm for not thinking of it sooner. Psionics are purported to supposedly be able to read thoughts, so why not be able to broadcast them?

Without any real idea what I'm doing, I sent out a pulse of psionic energy from the Overlord in the direction of the now identified Wizard, Lord Julian.

_Er… hello! Not sure if this is working, but if it is, the creature you see before you is called an Overlord. It serves as the eyes and ears of the Zerg. I'm Matthew, Overmind and leader of the Zerg, and you really don't need to shout, I can hear you just fine!_

I'm assuming the message went through because Lord Julian dropped his hand from his throat, but I noticed he also winced as did the soldiers, some of them covering their ears.

"Noted! And might I suggest the same, I can hear you just fine as well!"

Wincing, I attempted what amounted to a whisper and lessened the power of the pulse.

_Better?_

Lord Julian nodded and I sighed in relief.

_Oh good. Sorry, I've never done this before. You guys are the first I've come across that can actually communicate so I've never tried to do this before. Oh, and you can just call me Matthew. Overmind isn't really a title, it's what I am._

"You may call me Julian then! And on behalf of Artemis and its people, please allow me to thank you for defending our fair city! Is there anything we can do to repay you?"

_No need, just trying to be a good neighbor. I saw you being attacked and couldn't stand by and watch without doing something to help. _

"Then again, we thank you! Are you sure there is nothing we can do in return? Perhaps safe lodging? Allow me to extend an invitation to you to join me at my personal dining hall!"

_um… thank you. I would love to, but I don't have a safe way to travel to your city. My warriors can make it, but… hmmm… hold that thought?_

Now that I think about it, I do have 700 bio energy to play with, and an Overlord could make the trip. If I morphed one of my Hatcheries into a Lair, I might be able use the 400 bio energy left over to give an Overlord the ability to move faster and provide transport. That all depends on how much those upgrades would cost though. Plus, I'm not sure I feel comfortable showing up to a city with only 13 Zerglings. If for some reason they turned hostile, I'd be a pincushion in a heartbeat, Zerglings or no.

_I'm sorry, I don't have a safe way to make it to your city myself. I thought I might be able to arrange transport, but it turns out I can't. But that's ok. I really don't need any repayment. Just friendship and knowing my forces won't come under attack if any pass by is enough._

"Very well! My offer of lodging of course extends to your forces if they need a place to rest!"

I thought about that. It would be rude to decline a third offer of hospitality, plus there's not much they could really do to my Zerglings. Even if they killed them, I can reincarnate them later. It hadn't escaped my notice that when my three other Zerglings died, my connection to them didn't die, they just moved and redirected to the Hatchery. It seems the Overmind's assertion of the Zerg being immortal wasn't all that far off and extends to all Zerg, not just the Cerebrates and Torrusque.

That, and it'd be a load off my mind to have my Zerglings in a safe area rather than hiding in the trees where they might be picked off by a surprise Creeper. On the other hand though…

_I appreciate the offer and accept. It would certainly be safer for my forces to wait for nightfall behind sturdy walls than among the trees. However, before you take them in, it might be a good idea to take a closer look at what you would be putting up. Many might consider my warriors hideous and terrifying. If you decline after seeing them, I will understand._

Before Julian had a chance to say anything, I had a Zergling run up to the gate. I floated the Overlord around in that direction, and Julian followed eagerly upon hearing from the southern gate guards. Here's hoping his enthusiasm doesn't die once the novelty wears off.

I noticed many others making their way to the gate as well. I realized at that point that most everyone could probably hear our conversation since I wasn't really focusing the pulse at all. I guess they're all eager to see my Zergling?

Julian arrived at the gate and it opened, revealing my Zergling. Some gasped, but most simply murmured about it. Surprisingly the overall impression seems positive for a monster besieged people.

_This is a Zergling, the least of my forces. It doesn't need sleep, and can eat most anything, though its food of choice is one provided by the Zerg themselves. _

I already learned that last bit that they really can eat anything. I spotted one of my Zerglings eating rocks and bits of Creeper while we were off the Creep once. I turned my attention back to Lord Julian. He's regarding the Zergling with wary curiosity. He's slowly approaching, and I notice some of the guards have their bows drawn but aren't aiming them at anything. I can't fault them for their caution.

Eventually Julian reaches close enough and puts a hand on the Zergling's head and pets it. It wags its tail a bit and seems to coo at the touch. Some of the soldiers are actually sweatdropping at the sight, considering they just spent a whole night watching these things tear apart monsters into bits. Who knew a Zergling could pull 'cute' when it came down to it?

Julian grinned and said, "I have seen your forces Matthew, and I do not retract my offer. They, as well as yourself, are welcome in Artemis!"

At his words, a cheer went up, and I grinned and said thank you. At that, I had the twelve other Zerglings run up to the gate, then stop and walk in slowly. Some of the cheers seemed to taper off a little at the sight of more, but the overall reception was positive.

Julian cast his gaze up at the Overlord and asked, "Does the Overlord not require rest either?"

_It doesn't. They tend to just float about and occasionally eat Creep. That is the food the Zerg produce for our warriors._

Julian nodded, "What of the Zerglings? What do they do?"

_They like to run around mainly. They're kinda playful. Just have to be careful around them since they can play a bit rough. _

As we spoke, I noticed some of the civilians taking my words to heart. They seem to be calming down around the lot of them. One kid is even trying to climb up on top of a Zergling, the precocious thing! I chuckled at the sight.

The Zerglings ended up dispersing among the populous, some at the behest of children. A few just stayed right there at the gate, content to just stand there and either nose around and nip at each other.

One Zergling followed along with Julian, and I found if I put the pulse through the Zergling, it wasn't as difficult to keep the pulse weaker than with the Overlord, so I could talk to him without broadcasting it over the entire city on accident.

Also the more I practiced the more I found I could focus on the conversation with Julian, and my person still back at the Hive. I had yet to get up after all, so I took care of my morning rituals while we talked.

In the mean time I learned a lot about Julian's culture and history. It turns out the Testificates used to live in simple villages in peace, but then the first monsters showed up. Many villages were destroyed, but some survived as more and more Testificates banded together to protect each other, lest they became monsters themselves. They started building fortifications and training to protect themselves.

The city Artemis in particular, owes its survival to a man that showed up to protect it just like my forces did. It didn't take much description to realize Julian was talking about Steve. I was a bit surprised by that. I figured I was taking the place of this world's 'Steve', not that there would be another Steve who had already gone through! I wondered if he was still around and asked, but Julian mentioned that this was over 300 years ago so it's unlikely. I felt disappointed by that. Teaming up with Steve would have been awesome.

Another interesting thing about Steve that I found out is that he also appeared in this forest, maybe even in the same spot I did. He spent a lot of time near Artemis helping to start up the wall surrounding the city. He left a lot though without much explanation, just saying that he was exploring and trying to find answers. Eventually he disappeared entirely, but oddly enough after he disappeared, so did the monsters. A lot of the other City-Forts suspected he was the reason the monsters were around in the first place when they heard the story of Steve from travelers of Artemis. As it is, Julian warned me that the monsters showed up a little over a week ago, or 8 suns as he called it, and since the monsters showed up at the same time I did, the majority of city-forts would probably treat me as the source of the monsters and attack my forces on sight. Notch knows Artemis' soldiers might have done the same if they weren't more opened minded than the others.

At the mention of Notch, I asked about it. Julian then shared with me their version of the creation story. Surprisingly it differed very little from the story in the Bible, only with Notch creating the world in seven days with his unnamed brother. I asked if the brother's name was unknown, but Julian said that it was simply taboo to say the name and if a person said it three times, bad things would happen to them. I knew immediately who he was talking about at that point and hoped that HE doesn't actually exist here. I wasn't even going to chance it by thinking his name, just in case.

Julian then went on to explain that Notch eventually cast out his brother from their version of heaven, the Aether, and banished him to a place below the earth. I wondered if he meant the Nether and asked, but Julian said he'd never heard of such a place. I explained what the Nether is to him and said he's probably better off not going there. Julian agreed.

In return for all that info, I explained to him in turn that I came from a land so far away that I'm not even sure how to get there from here. I also explained that I had no idea how I got here, only that I woke up and found out I'd become the Overmind, and that while I look a bit like Steve, the original Overmind was nothing like I am now, and that I don't have any idea how I became the Overmind either.

Julian shook his head sadly and commiserated with me on having such power thrust on me so suddenly. He confessed that he had magic thrust upon him as well. He was out helping Steve one day when a bolt of lightning out of the clear blue sky struck him. When he came to, Steve was bending over him calling his name.

At this point I was surprised and interrupted, _wait, if you were there, that would mean you are at least 300 years old!_

Lord Julian nodded and explained that magic had somehow kept him alive. Steve had said he'd seen something like this before, but it usually resulted in the creation of a Witch, a terrible creature of magic. Well, he got the magic, but he didn't think he was evil and certainly didn't want to kill everything in sight or gobble up children as the stories go. I agreed, thinking Julian quite pleasant. We spent a bit more time talking about various things. I learned the names of some of the neighboring City-Forts, quite a few of them having names from the Greek and Roman pantheon for some reason.

Eventually I had to leave. As enlightening and wonderful it was to finally have someone to talk to after a week of being on my own, I do still need to continue expanding the Hive, and that Bio Energy isn't going to spend itself. It's already well into the afternoon after all.

Refocusing back on myself back at the Hive, which I'd mostly spent in the Spawning Pool while talking to Julian, I thought about what I should do next. It'd probably be best if I expand the Hive even more so I can get even more Bio Energy to work with in the coming days. I've got 700 bio energy available, and luckily two drones and two hives together just happens to equal exactly 700 bio energy. I quickly pulled up two new Drones. I then sent them both in opposite directions to set up a Hive directly East and West of here. I also sent my two Zerglings along with them, and had them go nuts with clearing the land.

As soon as enough space was cleared, I had the Drones morph into Hatcheries and set the two Zerglings to guard them. Two hours later, and I had 7 total Hatcheries, and roughly twice the amount of Creep I had before. That should mean tonight I'll be getting over a thousand bio energy! And to think I'd have to wait four days originally to get that much. Pretty soon I should be able to start doing some serious expansion of the Hive, not to mention some much needed upgrades!

With that finished, I thought about returning to talk some more with Lord Julian, but he seems busy. Besides, before this even happened, I was a bit of an introvert. Talking to someone new for so long has kinda worn me out. So instead, I spent the rest of the day resting.

Soon, sunset came. I went into the Hatchery, then started gathering up my Zerglings to prepare for the defense of Artemis once again. The guards opened up both gates briefly to let the Zerlings out, though I left behind one at each gate to patrol the walls and help the soldiers keep the spiders off the wall.

After a few minutes of seeing to the defenses, I turned my attention to the monsters attacking my Hive Cluster. Tonight they're doing something a little… weird. The Zombies are stepping onto the Creep and stopping. They're just standing there. The Creepers are blowing up as soon as they step on the Creep, the archers aren't even getting on the Creep just shooting at what ever bit is closest to it, and the Endermen… well, they were still stuck milling about underneath the Overlord. The spiders are essentially doing exactly what the Zombies are. All I can think is what the heck?

After a few minutes watching this, I finally figured out the odd behavior. They're targeting the Creep. Maybe this is a bid to destroy the Creep walls? Too bad these are simple monsters with such a single minded focus. I am a bit perturbed that they can seemingly shift focus to target something they were seemingly ignoring before. What exactly changed?

Either way, they're not really doing any harm. Less even than they were doing before. At least now they're not taking up space on the Creep. I gave an order for my Overlord to wake me if anything changed, leaving the defense of Artemis in the capable hands of the other Overlord, and went to sleep.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 0/Income rate - 1290  
>Support – 7.545_

_**Entities  
><strong>__7x Hatchery  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Spawning Pool  
>8x Creep Colony<br>6x Overlord  
>15x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Zergling Metabolic Boost_


	15. Chapter 15 - Day 11 (New Years)

And so dawns a new day. I woke up feeling refreshed. The monsters who aren't burning away are being ripping into by my Overlord and two Zerglings. Artemis is standing tall, and the gate guards are letting my Zerglings back into the city. Everything is going well.

Getting up with a stretch, I smiled and went about my morning rituals. I just can't seem to get the smile off my face today. Lord Julian came out onto his balcony and loudly said Good morning! To my Overlord. I said _good morning_ back. Everything is awesome!

1,290 bio energy available. What should I do? I could finally evolve the Creep to grow grass. I could put down some more Hatcheries so I could get even more Bio Energy tomorrow. I could evolve a Hatchery into a Lair and upgrade my Overlords for transport and speed. What to do, what to do…

Actually, it might be nice to visit Lord Julian for real at some point, so to open up the possibility, I order the Hatchery I usually sleep in to morph into a Lair. I spend the next hour and forty minutes swimming around and practicing with my Zergling sword. Swinging it around is kinda fun! Even my Zerglings got into it a little by hopping around, dodging my attacks as they came near, even if they weren't even close to being within striking distance. After seeing that, I started to actually try and strike them, but dang those little buggers are fast! Good practice though!

When the Lair finished, I stood back to admire it's look. To be honest, I always thought the Lairs are the coolest looking of the Zerg buildings. It's got that black look going for it, and the spikes just seem more sinister. It's a noticeable size bigger now, taking up more room.

Walking inside, the central chamber has changed slightly. The ribs running up the walls and leading to the opening in the ceiling are more pronounced and ridged now, and the pool in the center looks deeper. The walls are a shade darker before so now have an almost orangy appearance rather than fleshy pink. The base of the room is also a tad wider. All in all, I like the changes very much!

Moving to the next phase of my plan I checked out the three new upgrades available. Antannae, Pneumatized Carapace, and Ventral sacs, all for the Overlord. Increased sight range, increased speed, and the ability to carry things in itself respectively.

The speed and ability to transport stuff are the biggest things right now. Pneumatized carapace costs 450 bio energy and the ventral sacs 600. That totals up to 1050 and I only have 940! Dang it! 110 Bio energy short!

Sighing, I decided to go for Ventral sacs. Between the two, that one is definitely the more useful. With 340 left, it was a toss up. Should I save it? Get more Zerglings? Get the burrow ability? After thinking about it, I decide to use the rest on Zerglings. I'm sure the Zerglings can last just fine eating whatever the villagers give them, but it'd be better if I can change them out with a fresh group maybe every other day.

Soon enough, I have a dozen new Zerglings hopping around, and ready to get going. It hasn't even hit midday yet, so I immediately send both groups to switch with each other. To say the Artemisans are surprised by the suddenly departing Zerglings is an understatement. Some of them actually seemed frightened and I winced. I hadn't meant to cause panic!

Soon enough, Lord Julian is out on the balcony of his home, asking me via my Overlord what's going on. I quickly explained that I'm just sending fresh troops and recalling the ones there so they can get some Creep to eat and rest up. This seems to relieve much of the townfolk, especially when I assure them the new Zerglings should get there before night fall.

With that situation settled, Lord Julian spent a bit of time giving me a few pointers on being a good leader. To be honest, most of it was pretty much common sense. There were others though that I'd not really thought of before, like maintaining expectations among the people. If they'd come to expect something from you, don't flake out and suddenly not give it to them. I quickly figured out he was referencing the suddenly departing Zerglings, and I assured him that I understood. Lesson learned. Some of the Testificates still looked nervous, but occasionally they'd glance up at the Overlord and go on looking relieved. I hadn't realized my Zerg had such a huge impact on their lives until now. I really should've expected it though. They very well might have been overrun if my Overlord hadn't shown up that first day.

As midafternoon hits, my two Overlords I'd recalled a few days ago return. They might've gotten here earlier if I hadn't had them coming back in a straight line. As it was, I tended to send them on exploration runs on a whim on the way back to satisfy my curiosity and pass the time. Now they're finally back though. I consider sending them out to wander again, but decide to just station them around the Hive Cluster for now.

The rest of the day was spent cloud watching or listening to Julian as he worked. I'll admit that I get bored rather easily, so with little else to do, I tended to end up people watching. While not the most fascinating thing ever, it beats napping all day or literally spending time brain storming things to do as a way to pass the time. I swear I've got a million ideas of what to do with the Zerg Swarm now, and most of them are utterly ridiculous or require impossible things, such as what I'd do if I could throw a sample of the black light virus in the Analysis Pool of the Evolution Chamber. Some really nifty things I could do with that, but it's more likely I'll have to reverse engineer it… somehow.

I made a mental note to ask Julian if he had any books I could read later.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy –40/Income rate - 1290  
>Support – 15.545_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Lair  
>6x Hatchery<br>1x Evolution Chamber  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>8x Creep Colony  
>6x Overlord<br>27x Zerglings_

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Friend)


	16. Chapter 16 - Night 11

Night fall. So ends day 11 of my not so voluntary stay here on this planet. Things were going fairly standard. Just as the sun set, I made my way into my Lair to get ready for sleep. The dozen Zerglings made it just in the nick of time to start defending Artemis, but the 13 coming back got delayed by some Creepers so they're still a little ways off.

I laid down and watched as monsters showed up to attack Artemis and my Hive Cluster. I wonder briefly how the other towns faired with the nightly monster attacks. I made a mental note to step up my production so I could field more troops as defenses. In the meantime, I felt a strange shiver go up my spine.

I sat up, blinking. That was a strange feeling… It almost felt like something walked over my grave… like something's… wrong… but what?

A quick scan over my budding Swarm through Oversight doesn't reveal much. Everything seems about the same. Even my satellite Overlord seems to be doing fine… it's as I'm checking on my Satellite Overlord that I spot something that sends a not quite as mysterious shiver down my spine.

_Chesire moon…_

Call me superstitious, but all my life there've been times where things seem to just take a turn for the worse. The strange thing is nearly ever time it happens, if I ever look up in the sky, there'll be a crescent moon in the sky, but not a normal crescent moon. No, this crescent moon is lopsided, looking like a deranged grin. It's always reminded me of that scene of the Chesire cat in Alice in Wonderland when it's invisible and all you can see its smile. Over the years as I experienced these bad situations and the weird phenomena that would accompany it, I started to view the smiling chesire moon as an omen of ill intent, and it's very rare that it hasn't heralded something bad.

Well, bad on a world that's already plagued by monsters could mean something of nightmarish proportions. I instantly grabbed my sword and leapt to my feet, and just in the nick of time.

Into my Lair warped an Enderman, fist flying that I just barely managed to dodge out of the way of, thanking my luck that I'd been practicing sword play against Speedlings earlier.

Immediately my two guardian Zerglings leapt upon the intruder, but before they could score a hit, it warped out.

I braced my sword, holding it up in a defensive position, wide eyed. For in that moment as it warped away, I noticed something that has my arms shaking and my eyes impossibly wide.

White eyes…

A quick glance through Oversight confirms it. All the Endermen around are white eyed. They're also ignoring the Overlord somehow, despite it even turning its head to stare at an Enderman directly.

It's as it's doing this as the particular Enderman warps away in a field of purple sparks and smoke, it's trail leading to…

It's through sheer blind luck, instinct, and a dash of foresight that I throw my sword in the way in time to not only block a hit from the Enderman, but score a hit in return. It screams in my face and warps away again as I slice at it. It was lucky I'd noticed that trail had been pointed at the Lair.

Another Enderman suddenly bursts in again, but this time is driven off once more by my Zerglings. This gives me just a moment to catch my breath.

Ok, white eyed Endermen. Can ignore my Overlords and the vision of my Zerglings. If anything, some of them before they're warping seem to be looking 'through' my Overlords to directly at me. Could they be seeing me as I see them through Oversight? Is that why they're attacking me instead of targeting my forces?

I take stock of the situation outside. My luck seems to be holding. The few Endermen not facing towards my Overlord or the Lair I'm in are ripping away chunks of my Creep and tossing them away. It's not much, but it is letting the occasional Creeper and other monster in, where they seem to attack whatever the closest target is with wild abandon. I can't believe I grew complacent enough to start thinking my Creep walls would be enough. I knew they would get past them eventually! I can't believe I grew so lax in my defense!

I ward off another blow from an Enderman, but the strike he gives me leaves my sword rattling and hurts my arms for a moment before I regenerate from the damage. Eventually I'm going to stop being lucky here. I need to do something!

Just as I think this, several things happen at once. Some of the blasted Endermen start grabbing Creepers and ferrying them past the Creep Wall, and even INTO some of my buildings, causing far more damage than usual, and my thirteen Zerglings finally burst onto the scene and start causing some havoc!

With the reinforcements having arrived, and the Endermen distracted for the moment, I wrack my brains for something, anything, I can do in this situation.

Killing the Endermen is useless. They've taken a few casualties now, but new Endermen just warp in to replace the ones lost. I notice that the number of them doesn't seem to expand beyond 15 of them or so.

Trapping the Endermen is likewise useless. I don't have any immovable mechanical pistons to hold them in place, and my Overlords certainly don't have enough tendrils to try and grab them all, nor do I dare put them in range of the Endermen in the first place.

That's when the metaphorical lightbulb goes off in my head. The Overlords! Of course!

Quickly, a plan formulates in my mind and I prepare to do something incredibly stupid.

I ran outside.

With the chaos going on around me, my two guardian Zerglings and I made our way as best we could to a somewhat clear area. I ordered all three Overlords down to the ground, two to attack with wild abandon, the other, my first Overlord, the Alpha, I ordered to pick me and my guardians up. On the run towards my lowering Alpha, one of my Zerglings from the original 13 lost its life taking a blow from an Enderman to protect my back. I made a note to reincarnate it and make it my third body guard later.

Finally, the Alpha reached us and grasped all three of us, and promptly shoved us into an opening beneath itself. Almost as soon as it grabbed us I ordered the Overlord to fly up and quickly!

Inside the Overlord, I couldn't see a thing. Worse still, I felt squished. Stretching out my arms, I could feel the walls expand outward like an elastic band. That must be how it can carry so much in itself at once but normally not look that much bigger. These Ventral sacs must expand as more cargo gets taken in. Luckily the Zerglings seem to be lying quite docile, squished to my sides as they are. They aren't very comfortable, pointy bits and all, but I wouldn't give up the cramped space for the world. Cause it means there's absolutely no room for an Enderman to warp in here. I only belatedly realize that I'd stopped breathing and hadn't noticed. I tried to take a breath but there's nothing to breathe. I almost panicked until I remembered that I didn't have to breathe anymore. Still, not breathing and knowing you're not breathing is disconcerting.

With absolutely nothing to look at inside the Overlord, I closed my eyes and focused all my attention to Oversight. It's not looking good. I've already lost five Zerglings to the Endermen and Creepers. Still, they're doing a valiant job of keeping the Endermen busy. None of my buildings have taken much damage because of it. What little they have taken has so far been negated by their regeneration.

I spare a glance towards Artemis. Thankfully things seem to be ok there for now. If anything, the monsters seem to be going a bit easier on the town. I consider for a moment recalling my Zerglings, but Julian's words earlier stop me. I can't just abandon the town. The people there are relying on me to help protect them. Besides if I recalled those Zerglings, they wouldn't get here till morning. Certainly too late to help by then. Plus if I recalled them now, my luck this night might strike and an overwhelming monster horde might sweep through and slaughter the city. I couldn't in good conscience accept any part in that happening.

But what can I do? My Zerglings are dwindling. I just lost 2 more Lings to the Enderman, who, after realizing they can't reach me anymore, seem to be concentrating on causing as much damage to my forces as possible.

It's just as things are seemingly helpless, that a bright spot seemingly appears on the horizon, bringing a small glimmer of hope with it.

_Bio Energy – 1330_

At that moment, my eyes went impossibly wide in surprise. Then, I felt a sinister grin come over my face. Time for these Endermen to learn what happens when you hurt my family!

Ten minutes. Ten minutes is all the reprieve the Endermen had. Then the cocoons burst, and 42 Zerglings streamed over the walls like a plague of locusts. The Endermen stood no chance. Such is the way of the Zergling rush. With Speedlings swarming all over the place, any spot an Enderman tried to show up and do damage at ended up teleporting away immediately upon being attacked, if they weren't killed quickly enough. Area denial at its finest. But I wasn't done.

Ten minutes after that, five of my Creep Colonies I'd placed into cocoons burst, revealing five sunken colonies. Immediately upon birth, their orange spiked tendrils started shooting out of the ground, attacking indiscriminately and adding to the chaos.

Glorious.

I couldn't wipe the grin from my face. After the helplessness and awful situation earlier, watching the monsters of this world reap their reward for provoking the Zerg Swarm filled me with such vindication I couldn't even begin to describe it.

I could see the effect my feelings were having on the Swarm, spurring them on to greater ferocity to the point where some of the Artemisans were getting concerned just watching their defenders lay waste to the enemy! Well let them! Let them see the true ferocity of the Zerg! Now they'll know just what kind of power they have defending them and they can rest easy, knowing absolutely nothing will touch them! For they are mine! I have decided! The city of Artemis will be under my aegis forever more. Nothing will touch them ever again.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 30/Income rate - 1290  
>Support – 32.545_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Lair  
>6x Hatchery<br>1x Evolution Chamber  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>3x Creep Colony  
>5x Sunken Colony<br>6x Overlord  
>12+47x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)


	17. Chapter 17 - Day 12

The sun had to come up eventually. I felt almost… disappointed by it. The Endermen disappeared, chasing the horizon to the West. I still felt pumped up, ready and able to take on the world, which I was practically doing the whole night. The best part I think has to be the casualty list.

There were none.

That's right. I didn't lose a single Zergling after the rout we pulled off. My Zerglings seemed to almost feed off of the emotions I was giving off, and fought so fiercely that not a single one was lost after that point.

Trembling with energy, I felt the need to do something, anything. I used up all my bio energy last night, but that isn't enough. Not right now.

I ordered my Overlord to set me down off the edge of the Creep. As soon as I stepped off, what followed was a bout of deforestation that would probably send most environmentalists screaming. My Zerglings, still riding off my emotional high, were cleaving through trees like a hot knife through butter and picking off stragglers from last night hiding under them just as quick.

I followed along after with my two guardians trailing along, sometimes darting off to join any fighting that got close to where I walked. In the meantime I used my Oversight to calculate positions and started spreading Hatcheries nonstop in a chaotic spiral around my original Hive cluster. Every 100 seconds I would plant my fist on the ground and a new Hatchery would be growing, and I'd move on to the next spot.

I wouldn't stop until midday. It was at that point the seemingly limitless energy I was running on had crashed, and my stomach was growling at me almost constantly. I bent down to eat a piece of Creep, and felt a brief surge of energy, but my manic bout of expansion was done. Exhausted, I made my way over to my Alpha Overlord and went inside, and promptly crashed, my arms around the nearest object I could find, which was both of my Guardian Zerglings, pointy spines or no.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 30/Income rate – 60,690  
>Support – 29.5245_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Lair  
>204x Hatchery<br>1x Evolution Chamber  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>3x Creep Colony  
>5x Sunken Colony<br>6x Overlord  
>12+47x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)


	18. Chapter 18 - Day 13 (The LONG day)

I woke up disoriented. It's pitch black in the Overlord so I've no real idea what time it is. A quick stock of myself shows that I've fully recovered myself. My psyche however wasn't doing to good with my memories though. The more I reviewed them, the more I winced. Geez, I really went off the deep end, didn't I? I bet Lord Julian wouldn't be too happy with the way I 'claimed' Artemis either, even if my heart was in the right place. Not that he has to know, even if it is true in a way. I won't let anything happen to Artemis if I can help it. Heaven knows I might go insane if I lose the only people I can talk to right now.

Better stop putting off the inevitable though. Holding back a wince, I finally looked around through Oversight. What I saw left me absolutely floored and I could only stare in blank horror for a few moments.

Destruction. My Hive is completely wrecked. The majority of the Hatcheries I planted yesterday before I slept are gone. All that's left are plots of bare dirt and rock. My swarm of Zerglings have dwindled down to a mere five. I did a quick count and determined that I only had 19 of the extra Hatcheries left. 19 out of 198. So much death…

I whispered to myself, "What happened?..."

My alpha Overlord that's still carting me around made a noise to get my attention. I shifted my focus to it. The connection between it and me is pulsing brightly. Curious, I reached out to touch it.

Suddenly everything changed. I was abruptly the Alpha Overlord, yet not. I'm seeing and sensing everything from its perspective, but I'm not in control, and I'm vaguely aware of myself still touching the connection between my Overlord and I.

My Overlord makes a noise, and I look out over the Swarm from its perspective. I'm startled to realize that my Overlords are just as capable of using Oversight as I am. No wonder they see everywhere at once like they do! They're probably the initial creatures the ability came from now that I think about it.

Returning my attention to the Swarm, something catches my attention. It's me. I'm seeing myself planting the last of the Hatcheries at about midday. I can feel the Overlord's concern, and I can't blame it. From its perspective, I'm flagging badly. My psionic presence is just as strong, but my vitals are all over the place. Its one thing to regenerate from an injury, but it's entirely another when the problem isn't an injury to be regenerated. I look a mess. My eyes are bloodshot, and have a mile long stare. There are bags under my eyes and my movements are… twitchy. I look crazy to be honest. I'm glad no one saw me like that that wasn't Zerg.

Finally, my Overlord felt relief as I stumbled towards it, went inside, and promptly fell asleep. Or I thought I fell asleep. From the perspective of my Overlord and what I'm seeing right now, I actually fell comatose. Freaking comatose. Shaking my head, I returned my attention to the Hive sprawled out before me. For being in a right mental state, I did do a pretty good job of spreading the Hatcheries around. There aren't any blank spots like I thought there would be since even I thought I was placing the Hatcheries chaotically at the time, but I guess even then I had a method to my madness. I'll be darned if I know what it was though. I thought I was just placing them randomly.

Suddenly everything sped up. I wondered what was going on, then realized that the Overlord is literally showing me the equivalent of a tape of its memories and is fast forwarding so I don't have to worry about the boring bits. Even so, I still catch that the Overlords had split the 47 Zerglings into roughly 5 equal groups and had them patrolling about the growing Hatcheries. Finally just a few hours before sunset, time slowed down. I became aware of Lord Julian asking me through my Overlord above Artemis what was going on, and why the Zerglings had been behaving so erratically earlier.

Unfortunately, I couldn't answer. Even I knew before the Overlord checked that I wouldn't be waking up anytime soon to answer him. I was that out of it. I watched as Lord Julian as he grew more and more concerned as I didn't answer back. He looked increasingly worried and I wondered if he was contemplating getting the Overlord to show him where I was so that he could help me himself. I had to wonder if his magic would have helped my state at all. Something to ask later.

Eventually, Lord Julian went back inside saying he would check back tomorrow morning to determine what happened to me. I felt touched that he was showing so much concern for a man he had yet to formally meet. I resolved to see if I could finally get over to Artemis and show him that I'm alright. At the very least I need to contact him and let him know I'm alright so he doesn't have to worry anymore.

Once more, time seemed to speed up, only this time, it only slowed a little when night finally fell.

It was a nightmare. There had to be thousands upon thousands of the monsters all over the place, and everywhere white eyed Endermen darted about sowing the seeds of havoc and destruction. My Zerglings did spectacularly under the direction of the Overlords, but it wasn't enough. They were spread too thin to properly defend a Hive of that size.

The already completed Hatcheries were the first to fall. The Endermen were teleporting Creepers inside the Creep Walls and even inside the Hatcheries themselves. Some of them even took to ripping chunks of the Hatchery out by themselves, somehow bypassing their armor.

That was how the majority of the Hatcheries that hadn't finished growing yet died. Endermen would rip pieces of the cocoon away, leaving the vital amniotic fluids to spill out. The holes would heal over in a few seconds, but with the Endermen constantly ripping holes in them, eventually the cocoons shriveled and collapsed in on themselves, fading away as the remenents of the Creep that served as the base of the cocoon absorbed the dead tissue into itself, before it too faded away with nothing to sustain its growth.

After the first Hatchery died, many of them started to succumb like a domino effect. It was terrible to watch, but I needed to see. I had to know so I could prevent anything like this from happening again, whether by the enemy or my own stupidity.

It was as the majority of the Hatcheries laid in ruins and the sheer amount of Hive that needed defending that the Zerglings really started to shine through.

With a series of fast hit and run tactics, the Zerglings sowed their own brand of chaos and havoc among the enemy forces. Many an Endermen at that point often succumbed to a Zergling claw to the back when they didn't see it coming.

The Zerglings had nearly a full night of this to survive though, and unlike the mobs, they didn't have an inexhaustible horde behind them to replace the ones lost. One by one, the Zerglings ended up getting picked off, over half of them succeeding in pyrrhic victories in exchange for their lives. Still, they fought amazingly, and the rate at which my Hatcheries were dying nearly came to a standstill.

Nearly.

Midnight came and went. Evidently an Overlord's use of Oversight does not include knowing how much bio-energy the Swarm has available. No wonder they can't do anything macro, such as replenishing the troops or upgrading the Hive, they don't even know when the resources are available for it! That, and following along the thought processes of the alpha, Overlords seem to be mainly glorified Chess AIs, capable of micromanaging the heck out of what's available, but not able to do much else without direct input from me.

Even with this tactical prowess available, still the Zerglings took the occasional casualty, and still the occasionally Hatchery died. I'd judge there were roughly 30 Hatcheries left by midnight. As the Zerglings and now my Sunken Colonies were able to be used more efficiently since they're not nearly as spread out, the tide of the battle really started to slow down. If this is what my Overlords can do with just Zerglngs, I can wait to see what they can do with some Hydralisks and Mutalisks thrown in too.

Eventually the sun rose.

30 Hatcheries left by midnight, 20 left by sunrise. All but 5 Zerglings dead.

I felt when the Overlord disengaged from the memory, returning me to the present, but I barely acknowledged it. So much death… and all because I felt I had to DO something… my body shook as I fought to keep the tears at bay. Never again would I do something so stupid. So much death… and for what? What did that accomplish?

My downward spiraling thoughts were interrupted by a mental prod from my Alpha Overlord. It directed my attention to Artemis, where once again Lord Julian is asking after me.

Wiping my face in an unconscious gesture to be more presentable and reign myself in, I contacted Lord Julian. I assured him that I'm alright, and that I had just overextended myself and needed to recuperate but wasn't available. Julian was relieved and I explained a little of what happened with the monsters, and that my home is getting hit a lot harder than Artemis is. Lord Julian promptly offered a few of his forces to supplement mine. I thanked him gratefully, but assured him something like this shouldn't happen again, and that of better help would be knowledge.

Upon Julian's inquiry of what I meant, I asked him if he knew anything about Endermen, particularly white eyed Endermen, and if he knew of any way that could deny them their teleportation ability.

Unfortunately Julian didn't know anything I didn't already know. The only suggestions he could give were area denial through water and light. Unfortunately unless I want to relocate to the ocean or a swamp, the former isn't very viable. The latter however…

I did a quick glance at my Bio-Energy count before doing a double take. 8,520 Bio-Energy!? Where did-

…oh. Well, I guess there was some benefit to last night after all… but a large increase in Bio-Energy doesn't really come anywhere close to making up for the cost in lives it took to get it. Even so, I'll put it to good use to ensure nothing like this happens again.

I need a plan though. I can't waste a single bit of the bio-energy I have. I need to get some glow stone and integrate it into the Swarm by tonight, or I fear what I may be up against if I can't at least deny these monsters the ability to spawn inside my Hive Cluster.

First, I need lava. A quick glance through Oversight reveals a pool or two of it I can use that is somewhat nearby. Next, I need a water source. Finding a decent sized lake, I ordered an Overlord over to it. I then had it dip down so it could suck up as much water as it could carry into itself. Once finished, I could hardly tell the Overlord had taken on any weight, except for a slight bulge in its lower half. I wondered how it could maintain its elevation and what little speed it has when it's carrying what must be somewhere close to a hundred gallons of water if not more.

With no answer forthcoming, I ordered it over to the lava pit to dump its payload. The speed it's going, while not slowed any, is not anywhere near enough for me at this point. At this rate, it's going to take an hour or so for it to reach the closest lava pool. I did a quick check of the upgrades available to the Lair, focusing particularly on Pneumatized Carapace. The speed increase would be useful, but would that justify the 450 bio energy required for it? I wouldn't be able to make use of the upgrade for two hours though, but considering later on, I decide it'll be worth it and set the Lair to upgrading my Overlords with a Pneumatized Carapace. 8,070 Bio Energy left.

As I thought, it took about an hour and a few minutes for the Overlord to reach the lava pool. At a thought, I had it halt before it dumped the water, then had it attempt to pack dirt and stone along the edges of the pool. It caused the edge of the flow to bulge weirdly, and I'm reminded that Minecraft physics do not work in this world.

With that in mind, I rushed what few Zerglings I had over to the pool and carefully had them scrape out a deep rectangular shape next to the lava pool. Unfortunately Zergling claws aren't very good for digging so this took a while. With the Overlord's help using it's tendrils to scoop away the dirt and stone the Zerglings claws were essentially raking, the mold was finally complete.

At this point I winced, and with no other recourse, I had an Overlord extend a tendril into the mold and remove the barrier between the lava and the mold quickly. Despite the quick action, the Overlord still suffered some burn damage, but not nearly as much as it could have.

Soon, the lava flowed into the mold. I waited for it to settle, not wanting to get cobblestone instead of obsidian somehow. I didn't think I would, considering, but I had to be sure.

After a period of time watching the lava to make sure it didn't do anything beyond occasionally pop a bubble, I had the Zerglings back off and the Overlord dump the water. This hissing result of steam was loud and obscured my Overlord completely from normal sight. To my chagrin, it started to burn my poor Overlord! I quickly ordered it out of the steam. Luckily most of the damage was superficial, but I made a mental note to be more careful if I ever did anything like that ever again.

With that done, I had to wonder how long I should wait before the obsidian would be safe to pick up. Once the steam cloud cleared, I had a Zergling approach carefully and test the heat with a touch. Surprisingly, the obsidian felt rather cool. Grinning, I had the Zerglings pile up some dirt between the rest of the lava pit and the obsidian. After that, I had the Overlord carefully grasp the edges of the Obsidian and pull it up. Luckily, it all came up in one piece, jagged edges and all. It did have little flecks of stone on it, and I set the Zerglings to carefully pulling them away.

With that done, I examined the creation more closely. To be honest, it doesn't look anything like Obsidian. I had an obsidian arrowhead as a child and that was smooth and shiny, literal volcanic glass. Whatever this is, they may call it Obsidian, and it may form like Obsidian, but it's definitely not Obsidian. It's more like some kind of ashy stone. Just touching it leaves black marks on the skin like some kind of dust. It makes me wonder if it could be literally rubbed away, but when I had a Zergling tap it as a test, nothing happened. Even when I had a Zergling swing at one of the jagged edges to smooth it down, it resisted.

Surprised at the toughness of this 'Obsidian', I had a Zergling swing at the same jagged edge with all its strength. The result left me gaping. While the piece of obsidian did finally break off, it left a chip in the Zergling's claw. I had the Overlord scoop up the Obsidian gate and bring it over to the Hive. I don't want it on the Creep, but I do at least one it somewhat close by at least. I also had the Zergling grab the chip in its teeth and bring that as well.

With the gate on the way, I realized that I'm going to need some method of making fire. For once, I feel a tad stumped. For all the things the Zerg can do, I can't think of a single one that can make fire.

With no other recourse, I had four of my Zerglings detour to a shallow cave that has black flecks in the wall exposed to daylight. I'm hoping this will result in coal. Once the Zerglings reached the cave, two of them stood guard while the other two scraped at the walls and the black flecks within. This would be a lot better to use a Drone for, but I don't have a Drone, and it would take too long to build one and send it off now rather than wait till later. Half of the shards of coal being scraped out of the wall accidently caught aflame from a stray spark from the Zergling's claw scraping against the rock. That gave me an idea, and I had the Zergling bring the rocks and the shards of coal as best they could, again in their mouths. I hope that doesn't cause a problem with lighting the coal on fire.

Halfway back to the Hive, the upgrade for the Overlord finally completed. Suddenly it went from 'slow meandering walk' to 'Olympic sprinter'. I was impressed, though curious how the Overlord got the upgrade, since the Zerglings on the Creep needed to eat Creep to get the upgrade. Then again, the groups half way in between Artemis and the Hive didn't need to eat Creep to get their upgrades… must be some psionic thing.

Soon, the Overlord arrived at the Hive, and planted the Nether Gate into the dirt. The Zerglings arrived not long after and I had the coal shards and stone bits placed in a pile next to the gate. The other Zergling I had take the Obsidian shard to the Evolution Chamber and toss into the Analysis Pool along with a shard of stone and coal. All three disappeared with a plop.

Now with the gate more or less ready, and hopefully I made it big enough to accept Hydralisks through it, I started to buckle down to business. Knowing generally what I'm going to find on the other side of that gate, I quickly made a Drone and had it start morphing in a Hydralisk Den. I probably should have started doing this while the Obsidian gate was being made. Ah well, I'll learn better multitasking later. 8270 left, and it's not even midday yet. Making good time!

While the Hydralisk Den was being finished, I quickly did some calculations in my head. Considering just how much putting grass in the Creep would cost, I'm going to set aside 2500 minimum for an upgrade of Glowstone. The biggest problem is how long such an Upgrade would even take. I honestly have no idea, hence the need for speed if I'm going to have this done before nightfall.

With 2500 set aside, that leaves me… 5770 bio energy for Hydralisks, Overlords to support said Hydralisks, and any defenses I want to set up to keep monsters off my Hive. I'd go for some Mutalisks, but with the Endermen just warping around to avoid ranged attacks that don't count as melee (and thank goodness for that or my Sunken Colonies wouldn't have been nearly so effective last night), I'm not sure I won't to go for those, although their glaive worms would be really good for thinning out the rest of the mobs…

Setting that idea aside, I focused on the Hydralisk issue. How many should I send through? Considering the trouble I've had lately, a large amount would probably be a good idea. How many would 5770 get me anyway? Unfortunately doing division in my head isn't nearly as easy, but then I realized I could just write out the math on my wall of light. Some quick long division done, and I determined that would get me 38 of them. Kinda disappointing since I was originally thinking of sending in 50, but if 38 is the max, I'd probably be better off sending 20 of them through.

40 minutes and my Hydralisk Den is done. 15 minutes after that and I've got 20 Hydralisks lined up in front of me. The look exactly as I expected them to from the cinematics from the original Starcraft. They stand at about 6 feet tall, but I imagine if they wanted to, they could stretch up to 8 feet easily with those long tails of theirs. There scythes look dangerous, their bifurcated jaws filled with razor sharp teeth look scary, and their head crests… are not as large as I thought they'd be. How do they fire their spines?

Curious, I ordered a Hydralisk at random to fire a spine into the ground a dozen meters away. Watching carefully, I saw it lurch it's head forth and it's bifurcated jaw split open and it's head lunged forward like it was hacking up something. Then with the iconic spitting sound and a shot of green my eyes could barely follow, the spine shot out of its mouth and hit the Creep, a pool of acid sizzling as it dripped off the spine, said spine disappearing as the acid ate it away along with a small patch in the Creep before it quickly grew back.

Surprised and amazed, I had the same Hydralisk turn towards me and open its mouth. Angling it's head so the sun would shine down in its mouth nearly left it laying on the floor. There! In the back of the throat is a smooth looking dark hole that's currently clenched closed like a sphincter. Carefully, I reached back to touch around the edges of it, and keeping my head out of the line of fire, I had the Hydralisk open the hole up. There, a spine looking almost like a jagged slug of bone is sitting inside, jutting into the back of the headcrest. How diabolical. With the firing mechanism inside the mouth like this, this would stop the Hydralisk's main weapon from getting damaged or getting anything clogged in the opening.

Why did Kerrigan move the opening to the sides of the Hydralisk's head in the second game? This seems more efficient to me. Anything that doesn't know what a Hydralisk is will assume it's a melee fighter and will be completely taken by surprise when it opens its mouth to snarl and you suddenly find your head has an extra hole in it. With the openings on the outside, it's pretty much open and out there for anyone to see what exactly the Hydralisk does.

Shrugging, I refocused on the plan. With 20 Hydralisks squared away, I now have 2770 left to use for defenses. Thinking about it, I decided to sink 450 and an hour forty minutes into getting the Hydralisks Grooved spines to counter the extreme range of the Ghasts. I also called four Drones and had them finally complete the first ring Creep Colonies around the Hive Cluster and morphed the lot of them into Sunken Colonies. That dropped me down to 1620 for the defenses.

Going back to the idea of Mutalisks, I quickly started up a Spire next to the Hydralisk Den, leaving me with 1070. As it's now midday, I decided to start up the mission into the Nether. Walking up to the Nether Gate, I grabbed one of the pieces of coal and a rock shard. I quickly hit the two together. Nothing happened, other than a piece of scraped off coal on the rock. Grimacing, I set the piece of coal down and had a Zergling hit the rock with it's claw, hoping to set off a spark. Nothing.

Frustrated, and now a bit worried, I thought of something, anything I might do to be able to start a fire. If only I had a box of matches or a lighter. Casting about for anything, I turned my attention towards Lord Julian.

_Julian, are you busy?_

Unfortunately he looks like he is. I also accidently startled him. He seemed to regard the paperwork he's working on then pushed it aside a little.

"Not at all, I could use a break. What's on your mind?"

_What's an easy way to start a fire? You wouldn't happen to have an easily teachable flame spell I could learn in the next few minutes would you?_

"No, nothing like that unfortunately. For most, it's either you have magic or you don't. Most anyone can enchant an item, but that requires the use of reagents rather than any inborn ability. Most otherwise use flint and a shard of iron."

_Dang, and I don't have anything like that. I've got some coal and some stone that accidently got set alight while the Zerglings were scraping it out of the rock, but I can't seem to replicate the trick._

"If you don't mind, why do you need to light a fire?"

_It's one of the requirements for getting into the Nether. I need to get something from there quickly before nightfall, otherwise I may be running into some problems tonight._

"Ah I see. Perhaps I could have a flint and piece of iron, or flint and steel as some of the smiths like to call it, sent up to you with one of your, ehm, Zerglings?"

I shook my head though he couldn't see it.

_No good, but thank you. It'd take a Zergling a little less then half a day to get back here from Artemis, even running at top speed. I just had an idea though that might work, though I'll have to go a bit out of my way, but it'll be faster than anything else._

"Oh?"

I explained to Julian even as I started implementing my idea. I quickly hopped into my Alpha Overlord, while another Overlord grabbed the gate of obsidian, and with the Hydralisks trailing right behind, we made for the lava pool where the gate was created. I left the Zerglings at the Hive Cluster to defend it, sans my two guardians that had tagged along dutifully behind me the whole time.

With the Overlord's new speed putting them as just a touch faster than the Hydralisk's, we actually beat them there. I marveled at my New Overlord's speed. What was originally a two hour trip just took half an hour. Impressive.

I had the other Overlord jam the Obsidian gate into the ground near the lava, and once the Hydralisks showed up, I got out and made for a nearby tree in the clearing. I pulled and tugged at a branch to get it down ineffectually until I thought to have one of my Zerglings cut it down. I would've used my sword, but I only just thought of it, and thinking back I realized I lost it at some point during the manic expansion. It's probably lying around somewhere, or was absorbed by the Creep. To be fair, I wasn't exactly in my right mind when it happened. Nevertheless, I resolved to keep better track of my things from now on. It's lucky I never take my watch off or I might've lost it by now. I've yet to sync it to the day cycle here, so it's the only way I know what time it is back home on Earth.

With the branch down, I approached the lava and dipped the leafy end into it. A lot of it quickly slagged, but like I hoped, some of it quickly caught a flame from the sheer heat of the lava. With the burning branch held away from me, I quickly dragged it over to the Obsidian gate and touched the flame to its interior.

That's when hell broke lose.

…well, not really, but considering where this portal goes, the saying is kind of ironic.

Honestly, the opening of the portal was kinda anti-climatic. With the way my luck had been running, I'd half expected an army of Zombie Pigmen to burst through just now.

Thankfully it didn't, and I can't tell you how I relieved I felt just from that. Maybe things are going my way for once!

…I did not just think that did I? I probably just jinxed myself. Crap! I quickly said a prayer to unjinx myself, hoping it would work, and started sending my Hydralisks through.

Well, the prayer sorta worked. On the one hand, the Ghast didn't immediately see my Hydralisk when it went through, and the tribe of Pigmen milling nearby didn't immediately go agro. Unfortunately I didn't think to tell the Hydralisks not to immediately fire upon all hostiles upon stepping through, so the Zombie pigmen were quickly running for my, now two Hydralisks, standing in front of the portal. Unfortunately the commotion attracts the attention of said Ghast, which comes over and starts to spit explosive fireballs from long range at my Hydralisks.

This is bad, because Hydralisks tend to stand still when they're spitting spines, and unfortunately, they had yet to move very far from the Nether gate at all. It didn't help at all that during all this, I felt disoriented as my connection from, now three, of my Hydralisks suddenly switched from right in front of me to someplace else entirely. It took me a few seconds to reorient on them with Oversight, and by then it was too late. The Ghast fireball smacked into my Hydralisks, exploding and causing a fair bit of damage but none too significant. Worse though, is that it shut down the connection between the two portals.

With my three Hydralisks facing off against a still out of range Ghast, and a quickly growing number of Zombie pigmen, I frantically put the burning branch I still held in the open archway of the Nether gate and reestablished the connection. As soon as I'd recovered myself from the disorientation, I noticed that the Overlords started taking more direct control of the Hydralisks, and started pushing them through the open connection more efficiently.

As for the Hydralisk's in the Nether, with more coming through, they started to push back the Zombie Pigmen enough that a few were able to maneuver towards the Ghast. The Ghast, meanwhile still shot projectiles, but I quickly relayed that they could be intercepted by projectiles, so they Hydralisks were quickly nullifying that threat in between mowing down the seemingly endless horde of Pigmen. Seriously, they're coming from EVERYWHERE. I've never seen so many Pigmen ever! It's ridiculous!

With the battle situation being handled more efficiently via the Overlords on this end, I started casting around for glowstone. The spot where this portal opened up is set right on the ledge of a cliff overlooking a lava lake that stretches out as far as they eye can see. The ceiling can be barely seen through the darkness, but there are clusters of glowstone up there. The ledge stretches off in either direction, branching off in multiple directions from there which is where all the Pigmen are coming from.

It's to the left that I spot it, a low hanging cluster of Glowstone that would be just in reach, but it'll take some maneuvering around a twisting path for the Hydralisks to reach them. I curse myself for not thinking to make the portal big enough for an Overlord to come through, but then I remember that if I did that, it would also be big enough for a Ghast to come through to here as well, and I don't have any proper air defenses set up yet.

Which reminds me, how is that Spire coming along? Still an hour left. Dang it.

Refocusing on the battle, I relay to my Overlords the goal to get the glowstone along that path. The Overlords make a noise acknowledging the order, and my Hydralisks start pushing forward, setting up a firing line of sorts. As one line pushes forward, the other fires. 12 of the Hydralisks are doing this in two lines of 6, while the rest of the 8 are staying to guard the exit back to the Overworld.

Soon the Hydralisks had pressed forward far enough that they now had to defend on all sides. I was impressed as they switched from moving lines to what I could only describe as a caterpillar as the Hydralisks formed two columns, continuously firing while moving, and while the back two would move forward between the lines, the rest of them would keep firing. They kept this motion up until they reached the glowstone, in which one reached up and hacked off a chunk with its scythe. Then with the prize gripped awkwardly between its blades, to which I made a mental note to give it some kind of extra pair of grasping arms for situations like this, they started moving back the same way in a diamond formation with the Hydralisk holding the objective in the center.

They continuously fired while moving, while the 8 at the gate started laying down some serious fire into the back of the Pigmen heading for them. As for me, I can hardly believe what I'm seeing. This horde is beyond the worst I could have possibly expected, plus there are several more Ghasts showing up to replace the one the 8 defenders finally shot down. And yet I can also hardly believe how well the twenty are handling this nightmarish situation! It's incredible!

Finally, the Hydralisks reach the portal. The first one through is the one with the prize. I have an Overlord take it to deliver to the Hive, where a Zergling can roll the large chunk into the analysis pool. Main objective successful. Now to bring all the Hydralisks back to the Overworld.

One by one, with the rest laying suppressing fire, the Hydralisks returned back through the portal, until finally the last one came through. Luckily the 20 had been forming up a firing line and as soon as the last one came through, just mere seconds later, Zombie pigmen started pushing through. One big problem with a bottle neck that only lets two through at a time to face a 20 strong firing line. They get mowed down quick.

Then the unexpected happened. Zombie Pigmen started coming out of the other side of the portal as well as the side we're on! I was shocked, but my Overlords were quick to counter this. Half the group went around to the side so there wouldn't be a cross fire and started mowing down the zombie pigmen there too.

I shook my head. This has got to stop. I quickly gave the order for the Hydralisks to break the gate itself. All objectives are complete, there's no need for the gate anymore. With the order given, two of the Hydralisks started to focus fire on the edge of the gate. The acid from the spikes slowly but surely ate through the gate, causing the portal to waver. Finally the break finished and the portal broke. The Hydralisks finished off the last of the Pigmen, and then the silence afterwards was almost deafening after all the spitting that had happened.

Regarding the gate, I decided to be thorough and had the Hydralisks break the other side as well, effectively splitting the gate in half and causing the top of the gate to fall to the ground with a thud. I gave a sigh of relief and smiled. Mission accomplished.

I had the Hydralisk grasping the chunk of Glowstone awkwardly to hand it off to the second Overlord. I then got back into my Alpha Overlord. At that point I paused. Do I really want to leave the two halves of the gate laying here like this? What if the Endermen decide to pull another ability out of their hat and repair the gate, leaving me to deal with an army from hell, figuratively and literally?

Finally I came to a decision and had the second Overlord pick up the pieces of the gate as well. I'll just dump them in the analysis pool. The acid in it already rendered one piece of Obsidian to nothing after all. It should do the same for the pieces of this gate.

I gave the order to go back to the Hive Cluster, the Hydralisks going by ground while the Overlords carried us back. Twenty minutes until the Spire is complete-

My thoughts are interrupted by a noise made by my Overlord. It's focused back the way we came, so I turned to look, and did a double take. The other shoe had dropped.

A brand new Nether gate, this one smooth and properly shaped, is sitting in the spot where the old Nether Gate was, it's active, and a stream of Zombie pigmen are marching through and spreading out in all directions.

I stared in horrified disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me!?"

The Nether had been unleashed.

I quickly determined what must have happened even as I ordered the Hydralisks to turn right around and push back the ever expanding horde. They must have relit the portal from their end, something I didn't know they could do, but should have expected it now that I think of it. Bad enough I have to deal with Overworld mobs, but now I have to deal with an invasion from the Nether too!? Well, to be fair, we did invade first, but we left right after! It was more of an incursion than a full on invasion!

To my chagrin, as soon as the Hydralisks entered range and fired the first shot, the entire horde that had been spreading out aimlessly, were suddenly now focused on my 20 Hydralisks. Luckily, my Hydralisks seem to be pushing the Zombie Pigmen back. Zombies or not, it's hard to survive when they keep getting pierced unerringly in the head, and the acid from the spikes eats through the rest of the brain. Very little can survive without its head intact, skeletons not withstanding. Those things usually need to be broken into pieces or absorbed by the Creep before they stop moving.

Regardless, I need to put a stop to this. It's already been shown that breaking the portal on this end won't work, and holding the line isn't an option once night falls. I'm going to need all my Hydralisks to keep the Endermen at bay.

Speaking of which, I ordered the Overlord holding the chunk of glowstone to make haste to the Hive Cluster. We need to get the glowstone integrated with the Creep as soon as possible. Then I realized I'd made an error. I HAVE to be there in order to integrate the glowstone into the Creep in the first place! Crap!

I ordered the Overlord back and had it transfer the glowstone and two halves of the defunct obsidian gate to my Alpha. Then I had the Alpha make all haste back to the Hive Cluster, leaving the other Overlord behind to keep a bird's eye view on the battle.

I watched, simultaneously satisfied and frustrated as the horde of Pigmen continued to die off until the only ones left were the ones coming through the gate. The biggest problem though is that the bodies of the Zombie Pigmen are starting to form up and provide natural barriers against the incoming fire from the Hydralisks.

Come on, think! How can I stop them from coming through? That's when I had an idea. A wonderfully crazy idea. Could it possibly be that simple? At the very least it can't hurt.

On my order, the Overlord overlooking the battle floated down… and carefully tipped the portal over.

Now with it tipped on its side, I got to watch the rather funny sight of the next pair of Pigmen appearing out of the portal, only to fall right back in again minus most of their heads. I didn't think Hydralisks would be so scarily accurate…

A few moments later, the Pigmen seemed to have caught on because now they're climbing out of the portal rather than trying to walk through. Still, that has to be disorienting. Even so, the piled up bodies are starting to become a real problem. On the plus side, I have no shortage of gold swords now! On the minus side, the Zombie Pigmen are starting to push through, using their own bodies as cover. To say it's disturbing that the Nether portal is now in a crater of bodies is an understatement.

Ok, need a new idea. Come on, think! What else could put a stop to this? Can't destroy the portal, can't hold it after dark… what else hurts these Pigmen besides getting their heads blown off?... water won't hurt them like an Enderman, but they can drown… I had to experiment a lot with that in Minecraft to keep said pigmen out of my house… what else… fall damage, but there aren't any nearby convenient cliffs to put the portal up on… Idea!

A few moments later, the Hydralisks hardly had to do anything as Zombie pigmen fell to their deaths from the portal currently held aloft by the Overlord. For some reason, watching the Zombie Pigmen continuously dropping out of the portal to their deaths reminds me of the game Lemmings. I feel slightly disturbed and amused at the thought. Then a stray thought of the opening lines of Drowning Pool's song, 'Bodies', has me trying to hold back a snort of laughter, mainly cause it feels weird to laugh when there's no air to laugh with, like you're perpetually laughing too hard, and because sometimes even my occasionally morbid sense of humor can disturb even me sometimes.

Even more disturbing though is that the bodies are still piling up. At this rate, I'm going to have to have the Overlord move around to keep from the pile getting high enough for the Pigmen to not be killed when they fall. This is ridiculous! I normally don't have to deal with this kind of mess, since the Creep takes care of it!

Another sudden idea enters my head, and I direct the Overlord to carry the portal to the Hive Cluster. The Creep normally takes care of this problem, so why let it stop now? I order the Hydralisks to follow along behind to make sure none of the Pigmen survive the fall, which a rare few are for some reason, even if they're surviving it not intact.

Satisfied with this solution, I settle back for the ride home. It's been a long day.

Just as we get there, the Spire finally completes, pushing out of the top of the cocoon it was in, rising to a height that rivals my Lair and is just slightly taller than my Hatcheries. Happy that despite the brief upset with the Nether situation, everything is going well, I spent the last of the Bio Energy I allocated to defense, 1620, to 7 mutalisks and two more Overlords. I'd have gone for 8 as a nice even number, but the Larvae refused to spawn for the eighth, and it took me a moment to realize I'd finally hit my support limit so I needed to spawn more Overlords. Unfortunately 1620 meant I could either have 7 Mutalisks and 2 Overlords or 8 Mutalisks. Ah well. Maybe I'll have enough for an eighth after the glowstone upgrade is complete.

It's roughly early afternoon. I'm making good time as I make it into the Evolution Chamber with the chunk of glowstone. Darn thing is heavy! I'm relieved when I can finally put it on the edge of the Analysis Pool and push it in. I wait a moment till the liquid settles, then walk over to the brain room to connect myself to the Zerg Genetic Archive.

Finding myself back in the white endless space that reminds me so much of that one scene from the Matrix, I walk up to the white circular platform with the various creatures, buildings, and entities currently available to the Zerg Swarm. Stepping up causes the seemingly holographic 3D interface to appear.

Walking over to the representative patch of Creep sitting in the row of creatures behind the circular platform, I direct it onto said platform with a hand gesture. Then using the interface, I selected the tab New Projects, displaying the chunk of glowstone along with several other things that had been thrown into the Analysis Pool by now, such as the grass, tree, rock, coal, obsidian, and even a strand of my hair if you look closely.

Taking the glowstone, I set it on top of the representation of the Creep and pondered how to do this. Maybe if the glowstone was powdered into a dust form and infused throughout the Creep? Even as the thought entered my head, the interface reacted and powdered the glowstone and the dust settled all throughout the Creep, saturating it and turning it from its original dark purple color to a yellowish gold. But does it glow?

In the hope that it would work, I directed my attention to the 'world' at large and requested the lights be dimmed. Almost immediately, the lights went out almost entirely. To my relief and satisfaction, the Creep is indeed glowing, though not quite as bright as I would have expected from a floor of solid glowstone in a game of Minecraft would. It certainly looks to be more than enough to stop monsters from spawning nearby though. Now what's the price?

I looked over to the lower left corner and was surprised to see it would only cost me 400 bio energy! That's surprising, considering getting the Creep to grow grass cost me twice that. With 400 being well below the 2500 bio energy I allotted to myself for this, I decided to go for broke and grabbed the patch of grass from the new projects tab as well. Once the grass finished merging with the Creep and the glowstone dust, I'm left with what looks like a patch of gold turf, the price of which is 1400 bio energy. I guess the extra 200 cost can be attributed to infusing the grass with glowstone as well. I wonder if there's a way to change the grass back to its normal green color?

The grass then slowly shifted back to green and the price jumped to 1600 bio energy. I'm almost tempted to grab the tree as well, but I figure the bigger the changes made, the longer it'll take for the change to be implemented.

Accepting the price tag, I was just about to tell the Evolution Chamber to start the upgrade before a thought made me pause. Just in case, I mentally willed a new tab in the interface to be created and labeled it History. I then willed a copy of the Creep before it was changed to be put in the tab and labeled as Creep 1.0, just in case.

That done, I gave the go ahead for the change and exited the Zerg Genetic Archive. I noticed immediately that the green light from the eggs in the other room are pulsing rhythmically, along with the walls. Stepping outside, I found the conduits feeding into the Creep to be pulsing as well, with a fluid flowing to and from the Creep. Checking the building commands for the Hatchery, I found that the upgrade would take 3 hours and 10 minutes to complete. Plenty of time before sundown.

With the biggest immediate issues taken care of, I found myself at a loss almost to decide what to do with the last 920 Bio Energy. I wanted to get more units, but it was a toss up between getting more Mutalisks, Overlords, Zerglings, or Hydralisks. Other than the Zerglings I have a pretty good grouping of each, but I could really use some more support. But with those white eyed Endermen about I could really use a quick reaction force…

In that case, I'll max out as many Zerglings as I can I have with the support and Bio Energy I have available. As it happens, this turned out to be 28 extra Zerglings and two more Overlords. If all goes well tonight, I may just sink all of my Bio Energy tomorrow into nothing but Overlords.

As soon as the Evolution Chamber completed the upgrade, I watched in awe as a swath of glowing green grass rippled out from the Evolution Chamber and covered the Creep. Somehow the glow makes the grass look almost ethereal. In contrast, it makes the buildings situated on it look dark and forboding. One thing at a time though. I'll take care of that at some point later.

I took some time just walking around and even laying in the grass. It's really soft and lush. I can't wait to see what it looks like at night. As I laid back, staring at the sky, I let my mind wander a bit as I cast my eyes lazily about in Oversight. I noticed Lord Julian looking worried and frequently glancing out his window towards the Overlord from his desk. Poor guy, I do not envy the paperwork he has to do day in and day out. While not nearly so much to be impossible to deal with, considering he and his assistant/protégé are the only ones even working on the stuff, it adds up.

Speaking of said Protégé, I'm not sure what's up with that. I've seen the teen around occasionally, but he never speaks to the Overlord. Heck, some of the citizens will sometimes talk to the Overlord and I'll listen, sometimes talking back if they ask something I can actually answer. Honestly, how am I supposed to know when the next natural disaster is coming or what Farmer John should feed his pig to make it fatter than it already is? I kid you not, that's his actual name. I derived no end of amusement from the irony when I found out.

But this kid, Jeremiah? He doesn't say a thing. I asked Julian about it once, but he said he's just shy and quiet most of the time. Not sure what the story is considering I've overheard the kid talking plenty to others when out of sight of my Zerg, though he never talks about 'Artemis' strange heroes' or 'those creepy Zerg'. I gotta admit, it has me curious, but not enough to pry. If he wants to pretend that the Zerg don't exist or whatever, that's not really my problem.

Anyway, this is the fifth time Julian's glanced at my Overlord in as many minutes. Time to find out what's going on.

_Hey Julian. Rupee for your thoughts?_

Julian jumped, then breathed a sigh, looking relieved.

"Ah Matthew, you startled me. I'm glad to hear from you, but praytell, what is a Rupee?"

_Ah sorry, Rupee is a type of money that looks similar… I meant 'Emerald for your thoughts?'_

Julian chuckled, "I do not believe my thoughts are worth that much, my friend."

_Eh. You looked worried. Anything wrong?_

"Just worried about you. I went looking in the archive ever since you mentioned the Nether and what little I could find was not very heartening. You did not find a way into such a place did you?"

_Ah, sorry to worry you. Don't worry though. I did find a way into the Nether and my forces got out in one piece with the item I was searching for. I did hit one snag, but I got past it easily enough._

"That is good to hear. Come, tell me your adventures! I would be delighted to hear it."

And so I spent the rest of the day giving him a blow by blow, slightly edited account of what happened. I glossed over a few parts such as the ZGA, since I don't think he'd quite understand what I'm talking about no matter how I worded it.

"So the end result of this adventure is that now your land has glowing lush grass?"

_Yup. Soft too. I'm waiting for tonight for a field test, but I'm pretty certain this will stop mobs from spawning in._

"Yes, I too hope that such is the case. If you have indeed created such a thing, if you were able to spread it across the land, many would be very grateful, I'm certain."

_Yeah? Even the guys from the other Fort towns you mentioned would probably hate me on sight?_

"Ah, such is the way of other cities I fear. I don't know if they might ever accept you or your people. Due to our circumstances, We Artemisans are more open minded than others."

_Circumstances?_

"My magic."

_Ah. Ok, I can see that._

And indeed I could. I gathered that it was pretty rare for any Testificate to gain the use of magic without becoming a Witch. That Julian was able to do so is unprecedented and he has yet to figure out how to replicate the feat, short of calling down a bolt of lightning on someone, not something he is willing to do even if that were in his power.

Without meaning to, I audibly sighed both aloud and over the connection to Julian.

"Long day?"

_Yeah… I can't believe I got so much done… everything was fairly slow going, but then those white eyed Endermen showed up… I can't believe I grew so complacent. Then again, I was never very good at planning long term… I'm more a reactionary type person._

Julian chuckled, "'Reactionary'? Is that even a word, Matthew?"

I scoffed. _If it wasn't, it is now. Words exist to convey our meaning. If a word doesn't exist yet, we make one up. Otherwise we'd all still be speaking Latin._

"Latin?"

_Or whatever language you all used many years ago._

After that Julian and I shared an easy silence, occasionally commenting on various things. Eventually he excused himself to complete his paperwork, something he actually enjoys much to my confusion.

Eventually the sun started to set and I got up from the grass and entered the Overlord. Time to see the results of today.

-END CHAPTER-

AN – I took a bit of a liberty with the way Nether Portals work here. Normally if a nether portal loses connection in the nether, the overworld gate stays open and if you go through it, another gate magically appears. Well, I'm trying to approach this world in a way that makes a bit more sense and requires an explanation that can be covered by more than just, 'It's Magic' (keyword: 'trying'.). So instead of that, breaking the connection to a nether gate on either end causes both gates to close at once. The other nether gate tricks are still viable, there just won't be any 'Obsidian farming' due to this 'exploit'. Also, the 60 second rule is in effect, only in reverse. Instead of one gate being able to take you to its inactive counterpart for 60 seconds after one side is broken, instead, a newly broken portal connection can be recreated after 60 seconds, which is what happened here. I also ended up looking up what kind of stone we know as Stone in Minecraft is. Turns out it's Rhyolite, at least it's most likely that, and for this story's purposes that's what it is. I'm sure you've also noticed by the lack of bunnies, witches everywhere, and other types of stone, that this is not the latest version of Minecraft. Well you'd be right. That doesn't mean you won't see some of the stuff from the latest updates later though.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 20/Income rate – 10,680  
>Support – 77.584_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster w/ 1 8/12 Creep Ring (1x Lair-3x Hatchery)  
>20x Hatchery<br>1x Evolution Chamber  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>3x Creep Colony  
>5x Sunken Colony<br>1x Hydralisk Den  
>10x Overlords<br>12+33+2x Zerglings  
>20x Hydralisks<br>7x Mutalisks_

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Metabolic Boost  
>Hydralisk Grooved Spines<br>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep_

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Human hair (Overmind)

Grass

Tree

Obsidian Shard

Coal Shard

Stone (Rhyolite) Shard


	19. Chapter 19 - Night 13

The day is done, night has fallen. Time to see the fruits of our labors.

I watched and waited from the inside of my Alpha Overlord high above the central Hive Cluster, hopefully well out of range of any Endermen even if they even had a place to Teleport to in this Overlord.

Despite the darkness of night, my Creep is well lit thanks to the glowing green grass on the Creep. I was right to think it would look amazing. If anything I underestimated how it would look. Bio luminescence truly is a thing of beauty.

Better yet it's a good defense mechanism against monsters that require darkness to appear. The light from the Creep all around my Hive is doing its job! Monsters are appearing, but they're appearing around the Hive Cluster rather than in it! I gave a mental whoop of celebration.

With the monsters appearing outside the Hive and making their way towards it, my forces went to work. 33 Zerglings, 20 Hydralisks, and 7 Mutalisks fell upon the approaching horde, pushing them back much easier now that they're not appearing amongst my forces on the Creep itself.

The Mutalisks in particular were devastating the enemy even better than I'd hoped. Their acidic Glaive Wurms tore through the enemy so fast, the enemy could barely replace said forces in time.

But replace them they did. Despite the addition of the glowing Creep Grass, my forces are just too small to counter the hundreds, if not thousands, surrounding the Hive and constantly pressing forward.

And then there were the Endermen. White eyed, and dangerously intelligent, they could seemingly ignore anything that stared at them now, doing the most damage by teleporting Creepers next to my forces or inside buildings, sometimes even grabbing one of my forces and teleporting away with a limb detached. If not for my Zerg's ability to regenerate, I fear they would have been dead quite early on in this.

Watching all this happen, I quickly decided that standing ground just wasn't working. The Endermen need to be neutralized, and the Creepers being the most dangerous threat apart from them, lead me to order my forces to ignore everything else and focus fire on the Creepers and Endermen. This allowed the enemy to surge forward, but like before, they were stopped by the Creep Wall surrounding my buildings.

I had my forces pull back lest they get surrounded and the Zombies actually pose a threat somehow. I quickly found that if I parked a Hydralisk on top of the Creep Walls, no enemy could reach them apart from the Endermen, and they could fire from relative safety. My Mutalisks were fine in any case. As for my Zerglings, after some thought, I split them up, putting one Zergling each in all of the buildings to hopefully counter the Endermen teleporting Creepers inside by killing them before they explode. Considering the speed Zerglings have, they proved to be practically made for this task, and Creeper explosions inside my buildings was reduced to almost zero. A few did explode anyway, causing my Zerglings serious damage. Whenever that happened, I had a spare Zergling go to back it up until it healed. Considering I only have 25 buildings that can be teleported into, with one Zergling per building, that still leaves me with 8 Zerglings to act as this type of backup.

To my relief, this countered most everything the mobs of this world have currently thrown at me. I have no doubt they'll come up with something new, but for now, all is well. A few Skeletons are attempting to take pot shots at the Overlord currently hoisting the Nether Portal above the ground. I simply had it float up higher to remain out of reach. I then had an awful idea. Grinning, I had the Overlord reposition itself above the skeletons trying to shoot it. You'd be surprised the kind of damage a 150ish pound Pigman falling at terminal velocity can do to a skeleton when they hit it, let alone a stream of them. I honestly can't believe that they haven't stopped coming through yet. How have they not run out of Pigmen to invade yet? At this rate, I can only assume that there's an infinite source of monsters coming from somewhere, all things considered.

With things going as well as can be hoped under the circumstances, I finally gave in to the tiredness I felt after such a long day and dropped off to sleep, with orders to wake me up if anything changes.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 20/Income rate – 10,680  
>Support – 77.584_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster w/ 1 8/12 Creep Ring (1x Lair-3x Hatchery)  
>20x Hatchery<br>1x Evolution Chamber  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>3x Creep Colony  
>5x Sunken Colony<br>1x Hydralisk Den  
>10x Overlords<br>12+33+2x Zerglings  
>20x Hydralisks<br>7x Mutalisks_

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Metabolic Boost  
>Hydralisk Grooved Spines<br>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep_

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Human hair (Overmind)

Grass

Tree

Obsidian Shard

Coal Shard

Stone (Rhyolite) Shard


	20. Chapter 20 - Day 14

I woke up to my stomach growling. With a start I realize I didn't even eat anything yesterday. Grimacing, I stretched and did a quick check outside, only for my heart to sink.

It's raining. The sky is completely dark, lightning is striking the ground, and monsters are STILL pouring in to attack my Hive Cluster. With no way to tell what time it is from the ground, I checked with my satellite Overlord just above the cloud cover. The roiling mass of grey everywhere is disconcerting, but I was able to determine from the position of the sun that it's just after sunrise.

Returning my attention to the situation on the ground, I grimaced. Perfect. I'm hungry, and thanks to these blasted monsters I can't even get to the Creep for something to eat! My stomach growled again at the thought, and I winced, holding it. I can't believe I hadn't eaten yesterday. Actually, now that I think about it, I hadn't eaten since before I fell into a coma nearly two days ago!

Unfortunately I can't go down there. The Endermen are still about and as soon as I show up I just know they're going to try and get at me enmass. Or at least they would until I noticed that the Endermen seem to be concentrating their attacks either under cover or inside. My eyes lit up and I laughed. Endermen still are still damaged by the rain! This is perfect!

Then again, once I land, I'll be under the Overlord for just a few moments before it can move out of the way so I'll be protected by the falling water. That would definitely be enough time for the Endermen to do some serious damage if I'm not careful, and I still haven't found my sword.

Well, if I can't get down to the Creep, then maybe one of my Zerg can do it for me. Casting around, I found a Hydralisk currently paired up with another defending a Hatchery from a relatively clear area of monsters, clear meaning a lack of Creepers for the most part. With two of them in the same spot, one can cover the other while it's busy. I chose a Hydralisk and had it rip up a chunk of Creep, grass and all.

Now comes the tricky part. I'd still rather keep my Overlord out of the way, so I had another Overlord grab the Hydralisk and bring it up. While it's never been done before, I'm really hoping this'll work. Carefully, I had both Overlords press together, then grab each other with their tendrils. Then, pressing the ventral sacs together, the Hydralisk transferred from the other Overlord to mine. It was awkward and almost didn't work, but luckily the Hydralisk made it. I quickly grabbed the glowing piece of Creep, wincing at the sudden light in the up until this point pitch black place.

The Hydralisk then returned to the other Overlord and was then deposited back on the Creep wall in a spot where it could be more effective. Following the example, some of the Overlords started picking up and moving Hydralisks around as needed of their own volition.

I grinned, pleased at the development, then focused on the Creep in front of me. My stomach growled again but I hesitated. While I'd become accustomed to the Creep of old, this Creep is different. Is grass even edible to humans? And what of the glowstone dust? Did my tampering make the Creep inedible? That would be really bad since it's the main food source for all the Zerg. The buildings don't seem to have been affected by it, but it might be just a matter of time.

Carefully, I pulled apart the grass from the Creep. Maybe if I pluck it all off, it'll be fine. I note that under the grass, the Creep still glows a golden yellow interestingly enough. I'm not so sure about grass, but what of glow dust? Would it poison me or make me glow if I ate it?

I remembered then that glowdust is the main ingredient in health potions. That made me relax a little, but not entirely. Just because salt is a good food additive doesn't mean it's healthy in large doses, and this Creep is positively saturated with glow dust.

The growling of my stomach took it out of my hands though. At worst, I'll get a stomach ache as my regeneration heals any damage caused by consuming glow dust. I'm also fairly sure I can't get addicted to substances because of it as well, so no worries if glow dust is addictive either. Before I could lose my nerve, I bit down on the Creep I'd pulled the grass out of and chewed. While the old Creep tasted like sweet sugar gum and had the same consistency as such, this Creep has crunchy bits I had to deliberately ignore and keep chewing through. As for the taste, it's still sweet, but now it's also got a fizziness to it, almost like poprocks. It's weird, but not unpleasant. What is unpleasant is the bitter aftertaste left over from the bits of grass still in there. I grimaced, but couldn't help but feel relieved as just that one bite did wonders for my stomach, which had started to attempt mutiny and stab me from the inside.

Eyeing the rest with distaste, but still hungry, I shrugged and decided if plucking it out didn't help then there was no point, and just took a large bite out of the whole thing, grass and all. To say I nearly gagged from the consistency of the grass would be an understatement. I tried to think of it in the same vein as lettuce or spinach, but I couldn't get over the 'juice' inside the grass that was leaving such a bitter taste in my mouth, regardless of the sweetness of the Creep counteracting it.

Finally I got to a point where I couldn't eat another bite. I'd satisfied my hunger as much as I could, and it was enough that I can't justify pushing through the taste anymore. Discarding the last bit to the side, which the Overlord dutifully pushed out, I wiped at my tongue with my hand to get the taste out of my mouth. This is when I got to discover the taste of 'Overlord' on my hands. A decidedly worse flavor, and I gagged even worse. Desperate, I bit the inside of my cheek hard before I could think about it, I yelled from the pain of it before I held it in, and lapped at the spot, taking in the taste of copper now slowly entering my mouth. You know a taste is bad when your own blood tastes better.

The sore in my mouth healed fairly quickly but it was enough. Cursing the echoing after pain from the bite and my own lack of foresight in making sure I wasn't screwing over my only food source, I considered what to do. Like before, I can't go down to the Evolution Chamber and get this fixed since I'll just be an open target for Endermen. If only I could find a way to counter those blasted creatures! I can stop them from spawning on the Hive, but light doesn't stop them from Teleporting onto it!

Considering I just ate though, I should be able to at least wait until tomorrow before I go attempting to fix the Creep back up to make it edible again or at least put some food bearing trees on the Creep. It seems I'm the only one that finds the Creep detestable since I just saw a Zergling grab up a bite of Creep, grass and all, and didn't even react to the difference.

Sighing, I considered what to do. Having eaten, I turned my attention to my Bio Energy to see what I could build today and did a double take. 10,700 Bio Energy!? But how!? That's practically 4,000 more than yesterday! I didn't even place any new Hatcheries down! Why would the Creep suddenly generate 4,000 extra Bio Energy?

Contemplating it, I realized the only difference between last night and the night before is this time I had glowing Creep and grass. Somehow I doubt the grass has anything to do with it. The glowstone then? But then… does that mean my Creep gets Bio-energy from light!? I chuckled at the ridiculousness of the idea, particularly because of how well it fits with the evidence I've seen. It explains why I'd suddenly get an influx of more Bio Energy after an increase in the amount of Creep, and why I got a little less than usual during that last storm a week ago. The Creep is like a giant solar panel. Ridiculous or not, it makes perfect sense! My Zerg are solar powered! I busted out laughing at the thought, wheezing at the lack of air in the Overlord.

But then that means… Glowstone is supposed to put out the same level of light as sunlight. That means the Creep now has the equivalent of bright sunlight on it 24/7, maxing out my bio energy income despite even this storm! Do I really want to mess with that just to make the Creep edible again? Not really, I decided. I'll see about getting some fruit trees and maybe even some wild carrots, potatoes, and wheat growing in the Creep first thing tomorrow. Maybe even some flowers too. It'll just be a regular old garden of Eden!

Chuckling at the ridiculous notion, I regarded the 10,700 Bio energy available. There's a lot I could do with that much Bio-Energy. However, I already made a decision yesterday of what I would do first of all with my Bio-Energy yesterday, one I plan to do first and foremost.

With that, I started pumping out Overlords, having my forces concentrate on protecting the eggs as they hatched. Soon I had 50 more Overlords in the sky, and I am now 5,000 Bio-Energy less. I grinned, I shouldn't be hurting for support for my Zerg anytime soon now that's for sure. Jumping from 84 to 334 support total would do that.

The only downside is that with so many Overlords in the sky and with all of them bunched together, they ended up blotting out the sky, and the rain in particular, freeing up some of the Endermen to fight more effectively under them. Well I can't have that, can I? I quickly spread the Overlords out, placing them about each Hatchery, 3 per Hatchery, with only one Hatchery not having any Overlords at all. That settled the situation quite well.

With 5,700 Bio Energy left over, I considered what to do. Considering the horde of monsters on my Creep, I decided that I needed to get a force large enough to counter them all, and while the Hydralisks were good, and the Zerglings as well, the Mutalisks have the speed and the ablity to counter hotspots and take out many at a time with each shot, and that's just with 7 of them!

With that in mind, I soon pumped out as many Mutalisks as I could, maxing out a 28 extra mutalisks with 100 bio-energy left, bringing the total to 35. I contemplated using the last hundred bio energy for more Zerglings or a drone or two, then just decided to hold it back just in case. Not that I think I needed to.

With 35 Mutalisks in the sky, my Swarm's air superiority came into play big time. With them spread out evenly and the Hydralisks backing them up, the horde started to get pushed back until they were finally completely off the Creep entirely. I had them hold position then, keeping them off the Creep. A few still spawned occasionally in the spots devoid of Creep between the corners of the Hatcheries, but those were few and far between, so while the occasional skeleton and Zombie were ignored since they'd just get eaten by the Creep, the Creepers were quickly set upon by a Hydralisk or a spare Zergling or two.

I couldn't help but grin in this case. Everything is coming along quite nicely, even after that SNAFU a few days ago. That'll hopefully teach these monsters to mess with the Zerg Swarm!

With things handled here, I turned my attention to Artemis. Like before, things have remained about the same there. The main concentrating of enemies is around my Hive while the monsters showing up every where else are about normal for what I'd expect from a game of Minecraft. I'd hate to imagine how I'd be doing right now if I knew nothing of that game… I shuddered at the thought.

Most everyone is staying indoors, though a few are braving the rain to complete a few necessary chores. Just because I could, I had my Overlord currently over there float above a few to shade them from the rain. A few seemed grateful, while the occasional one or two would wave it off. I guess they prefer to work in the rain. A few of them waved and smiled after the Overlord moved off, removing any sting from them declining my favor.

The rain didn't let up until well into the evening. By then, the sun was already due to set in an hour or two. The stream running through my central Hive had gorged itself on the rain, running over its banks, but not by much since any extra water the Creep absorbed into itself. I think the only reason the river's still even there is because I want it to be.

Eventually the sun set once again, ending week two of my unwitting stay here on Minecraftia. Who knows what the next week will bring?

-END CHAPTER-

AN – Welp, I've decided to post what I've got so far on . I was planning on waiting till I got this story caught up to where NWNO is, but I figured I might as well start here. I'm currently writing the next chapter, and will probably continue to do so since I seem to have hit a roll on these. I was only up to Day 5 a week ago. Hope you enjoy. If not… well, why are you reading this then? Flames will be ignored. I respond well to suggestions and ideas. I'll try my best to respond to any reviews but know I might not catch them all.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build  
>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.<br>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.  
>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.<br>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second._

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 100/Income rate – 10,680  
>Support – 133.5334_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster w/ 1 8/12 Creep Ring (1x Lair-3x Hatchery)  
>20x Hatchery<br>1x Evolution Chamber  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>3x Creep Colony  
>5x Sunken Colony<br>1x Hydralisk Den  
>60x Overlords<br>12+33+2x Zerglings  
>20x Hydralisks<br>35x Mutalisks_

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Metabolic Boost  
>Hydralisk Grooved Spines<br>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep_

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Human hair (Overmind)

Grass

Tree

Obsidian Shard

Coal Shard

Stone (Rhyolite) Shard


	21. Chapter 21 - Day 15

A new day is dawning, a night come and gone. My Mutalisks were so effective with their Glaive wurms carving out huge swaths of monsters that My Hydralisks and Zerglings were practically relegated to back up, facing down the Endermen and the Creepers they'd taken to transporting into my buildings.

Thus begins week 3 of my stay here on Minecraftia. I can hardly believe it's been so long, but it has according to my little calendar in the corner on my light ball. I glanced over at the Nether Portal still steadily dripping Zombie Pigmen onto the Creep from high up. No change there. Really need to find a more permanent solution to that problem. It'd be just my luck that Blazes would start popping through within the next couple of days.

A quick cursory sweep of my Hive Cluster shows everything is going alright. Turning my attention to Fort Artemis shows that it too is also going well. I spare a few moments to say hello to Lord Julian. It's just a simply exchange of pleasantries, but he does mention a visitor from one of the neighboring city-forts who showed interest in the 'monster' flying over Artemis, the monster being my Overlord, and why they hadn't shot it down yet. Julian did his best, but with the visitor having left earlier this morning, at least one other Fort City should know of some of my Zerg soon. Considering the chances of hostility that I may get, I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Getting my usual morning rituals out of the way, I contemplated what to do now. My Swarm has 10,780 Bio Energy available. The way I see it, I have three options. I could expand the Swarm by creating more Hatcheries and such, I can advance my Hive Cluster's tech level by placing down the buildings needed to upgrade my Lairs into Hives, or I could try my hand at evolving the Swarm some more with the Evolution Chamber. I have some ideas for evolving the Swarm, but honestly, I'm not really sure how to implement them. I have the idea of a Zerg that can shoot out water to take care of any Blazes and Endermen, but other than this Zerg sucking up a huge store of water from a river or ocean, which isn't really viable, I don't see how to go about it.

I shook my head. If only I had a Cerebrate or two. Maybe they could figure it out? I'm really hoping a Cerebrate would have a better understanding of biology and genetics, especially in regards to the Zerg themselves. I bet if I'd given one of them the idea for glowing grass growing out of the Creep, they'd have been able to make it glow AND taste good.

Having thought that, and realizing that 10K Bio-Energy a day is probably enough for now, I decide to try and unlock the ability to build a Cerebrate. According to the build list, it requires a fully upgraded Hive Cluster, with all upgrades finished and everything. I've no idea why that's necessary before I can build a Cerebrate. Maybe once I make one, I can ask? It'll be nice to have an actual Zerg to talk to. Julian's alright, but there's only so much I can tell him. It's not that I don't trust him, I just have a healthy respect for operational security and need to know. Julian doesn't need to know the entire inner workings of the Zerg. Sharing that just doesn't seem very intelligent.

Decision made, I started implementing the changes. First order of business is getting a Queen's Nest set up so I can upgrade my sole Lair into a Hive. I contemplate turning all the other Hatcheries into Lairs in the meantime, but decide to hold off on that until I'm sure I'll have enough to cover all the upgrades to the Swarm or not. I order a larvae to morph into a Drone.

One hour and 400 Bio Energy later, 450 if you include the Drone, and I have a Queen's Nest sitting next to my Spire. From an aerial view, my Hive looks like half a circle, with most of my buildings starting from the south end with the Evolution Chamber and working my way counter clockwise with the Spawning Pool, Hydralisk Den, the Spire, and now the Queen's Nest. I'm not exactly doing it on purpose, but that's just the way it looks now. I should probably get to finishing the ring of Creep Colonies to complete the ground defenses anyway. I've put it off long enough as it is.

With the Queen's Nest finished, I gave the order for the Lair to morph into a Hive. The building then bloated up into a pulsating sac of flesh, not unlike a brownish black raw heart sitting on the ground. I'd prefer the membrane like sac it originally grew in any day really. I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it since the Creep Colonies upgrading into Sunken Colonies did the same thing.

With the Hive morphing, I'm now down by 500 more Bio Energy, leaving me with 9,880 Bio Energy. Plenty for the rest of the buildings and Upgrades I hope. I've an hour and forty minutes until the Hive finishes and I can put up the last two to three buildings though. Until that point, I start looking into getting the upgrades out of the way.

I ended up choosing to get the first level melee attack upgrade from the Evolution Chamber, the Burrow ability from another of my Hatcheries, the muscular augmentation from my Hydralisk Den, the first level flyer attack upgrade from the Spire, and the Spawn Broodlings ability from the Queen's Nest. All told, it comes to a total cost of 1,650 Bio Energy, and some of those aren't going to be complete for at least four hours. On top of that, that's only a small fraction of the upgrades available to me currently. The Evolution Chamber alone has 9 upgrades, but it can only do one at a time, and six of them are dependent on a previous upgrade being complete. Long story short? It's going to take a while to get all the upgrades finished.

Nearly two hour's later, my Hive finally finished. Compared to the Hatcheries next to it, the thing is freakin huge! Nearly twice the size of the Hatcheries! Those tusks towering over them with what almost look like ribbed spikes and dragon heads topping them are almost too much. All four are actually swaying slightly with the natural movement of the Hive, and they seem to be keeping vigil over the building almost. It gives me an interesting idea of natural defenses for the building actually, especially if those dragon head looking things are fitted with Hydralisk spine launchers. I mark the idea on my list for later.

With the Hive done, a number of options are now available. First things first, I order up three new Drones for 150 and have them build a Defiler Mound, Ultralisk Cavern, and a Nydus Canal for a total of 1,000 from that alone. With 7,030 Bio Energy left after that, I started up the upgrades available now that I have a Hive.

By the end of the day, I'd gotten the Overlord Antannae upgrade from the Hive, the Zergling Adrenal Glands upgrade from the Spawning Pool, the Ensnare ability and Gamete Meiosis Upgrade from the Queen's Nest, the Plague and, reluctantly, the Consume abilities as well as the Metasynaptic Node upgrade from the Defiler's Mound, the Anabolic Synthesis and Chitinous Plating from the Ultralisk Cavern, the second level of flyer attacks and started the third at the Spire, and same for Melee attacks at the Evolution Chamber. The lot cost me a whopping 5,925, leaving me with 1105 Bio Energy.

I'm honestly shocked I was able to get so many done. I just kept the upgrades rolling through the day. Whenever one finished, I started up the next. I never thought that would have me end up finishing all available upgrades to the Swarm barring the ones going one at a time at the Spire and Evolution Chamber.

I said 'reluctantly' earlier. When it came time to upgrade the Defiler to be able to use the Consume ability, I almost didn't do it. If it weren't a requirement for a Cerebrate I wouldn't have. The idea of a Zerg eating more Zerg just to get a small boost of energy really disturbs me. Bad enough the Creep is eating the flora, as well as the splattering fauna from that stupid Nether Gate, but Zerg eating Zerg? It's no wonder Kerrigan got rid of Defilers by the time the events of Starcraft 2 came around. Though I find it somewhat ironic she has something against cannibalism among the Zerg, but is fine enough with kamikaze techniques to the point of making it a staple of her army.

Over time as the upgrades finished, I noticed as the various buildings sent out pulses of psionic energy and quite a number of my Zerg swooped down to eat pieces of Creep. It came as a surprise for me that once the Burrow ability completed at the Hatchery, I ended up as one of the Zerg targeted by this psionic energy pulse. With it came a crawling sensation underneath my skin and an almost overwhelming urge to go eat some Creep, though I could tell I'd be able to ignore it if I wanted, though it wouldn't be very pleasant until whatever the Burrow ability is changing in me finishes.

Grimacing, I had my Overlord drop me on the ground, wincing as the light hit my eyes, which had grown used to the darkness inside the Overlord for so long. Pulling up a patch of grass and Creep, I ate it as quickly as possible. Once I did that, the crawling sensation under my skin intensified for a moment, then finally subsisted. I quickly got a drink from the river to wash the taste of grass from my mouth. I nearly made to change the Creep back to having no grass right then, but I quickly discovered to my dismay that while the Evolution Chamber is busy upgrading the Swarm, I wouldn't be able to access the Genetic Library in the meantime.

Frustrated, I got some more water to finish rinsing the taste out. Once satisfied, I turned my attention to the changes in my body curiously. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be any change at all. But looking closely, I noticed that the skin over my muscles has actually darkened a little. If I weren't so familiar with my own body, and weren't already as pale as I am, I might have never noticed. I removed my shirt to see the same change, however slight. Feeling the places, I quickly realized it isn't the skin so much that's changed, but the muscles underneath.

Before, I lead a fairly sedentary life style with brief bouts of muscle use for carrying things and pushing heavy objects around. I couldn't claim to be overmuscled by any means, but I did have at least a bit of definition. Now, my muscles have just the slightest size increase, still not enough to give me much definition, but where before pushing on my flexed muscles felt like hard rubber, now I feel like I'm pressing against solid steel. I can even feel some kind of ribbing underneath the skin on the muscle itself. It's kind of creepy to be honest.

Curious to how the Burrow ability works, and why it made this change, I activated the ability. Suddenly everything is dark again, and if I'd blinked I might've missed it. Somehow I dropped into the ground almost as if the surface I'd been standing on turned into water for a moment. Attempting to unburrow had me climbing out of the ground so fast it was almost too fast to follow. I had to burrow and unburrow a few times before I finally started to get an inkling of what's going on.

Evidently activating the burrow ability causes my new muscles to shake so fast that the ground literally shakes apart underneath my feet. Unburrowing is essentially the same thing, though I can't figure out how vibrating fast would cause me to shoot out of the ground when it previously had me shooting into it.

Calling a Zergling over, I checked its scythe like claws. Again, there's no real appearance change, but knocking on the claw itself shows that it's denser and a bit heavier than before. The Zergling almost seems a bit twitchier as well. The blade seems just as sharp as before though. I'm figuring it'll be the same for the Mutalisks attacks. I don't dare handle them though, since the acidity of the glaive wurms would probably melt my arms off.

I'm tempted to create a Queen or an Ultralisk just to see what they're like, but with only 1,105 Bio Energy left, and the upgrades I still have left to finish, I decide to hold off on that for now. I do at least finish the ring of Sunken Colonies surrounding my initial Hive Cluster. Between 4 Drones, 4 Creep Colonies, and 7 upgrades to Sunken Colonies, the lot cost me 850 Bio Energy, leaving me with a paltry 255 Bio Energy. Nowhere near enough to start more upgrades when the current ones complete.

I wandered over to my three new buildings. I gave the Queen's Nest a cursory once over, but I don't see any way inside it, same as the Spire. The Hydralisk Den at least has an opening, but it only amounts to a cave full of side tunnels that I think the Hydralisks can slither through if they wish. The Ultralisk Cavern is pretty much just that, though I'm surprised that it actually extends underground by quite a bit. You could probably fit three to four Ultralisks in there. As for the Defiler Mound, I'm at once revolted and intrigued by the building. It's sort of like if you took a Spawning Pool and piled up black sludge and random tunnel like chitin up, then add a dash of orange tendrils snaking everywhere, you'd get this place. The tunnels I can see actually look big enough for me to fit into, but the black ooze and orange… things wriggling about have me steering clear of the place. For all I know, this is where the Defiler's Plague ability is stored. Considering in game the stuff takes you down to only one hitpoint, I don't even want to imagine how that translates to real life. With my luck, it'd probably be similar to all the plagues of Moses combined and about as pleasant.

Giving the Defiler Mound a wide berth, I approached the Nydus Canal, one of the more mysterious buildings of the Zerg. It's a lot bigger than I expected it to be. I suppose it does make sense since it's supposed to be able to fit Ultralisks, which are roughly twice the size of an Elephant (which makes me wonder just how an Overlord is able to carry two of the things with no difficulty). Currently, there's a white film over the sides of the tall cylinder like building. There's a green light shining from the building through the white film, and the closer I get, a tingling feeling travels across my skin. It's weird, and makes me shiver a little from the feel of it. I'm almost tempted to place its counterpart nearby, just to see what would happen, but that just seems a waste to me.

That's when I notice something odd. There's no command to build the Nydas Canal's counterpart in its command list. This is the first thing I've seen about my Zerg that's been blatantly different from normal Zerg, apart from the use of Bio-Energy instead of Vespene and Minerals. If there's no counterpart to be built, then how would a Nydus Canal be able to link to another and transport Zerg to it? Is this building going to be useless now? I really hope not.

I'm tempted to see if I can get past the white film, but decide against it. Instead, I spend the last few hours of daylight starting new upgrades as others complete till nightfall. Once again, monsters show up in force, and once again my Mutalisks keep them at bay. Endermen start getting creative by teleporting Creepers on top of buildings rather than in them where my Zerlings are waiting, but some redistribution of some of my Zerg takes care of that issue.

It's… odd though. Throughout the night, my Zerg can feel a tremor through the ground, like some large monster stomping around randomly. I can't even imagine what it could be. Maybe a giant Zombie wandering around? But I figure I'd be able to see something like that on the horizon. I'm a tiny bit worried, but when nothing showed up, I eventually gave in to my tiredness and went to sleep.

-END CHAPTER-

AN – I'm going with the explanation that the muscles vibrate at a higher frequency when burrowing than they do while unburrowing. This causes the ground to maintain some solidity and causes the ground to force the one vibrating upwards, kind of like a dog shaking itself will send dirt scattering off it. As for the Nydus Canal… well, I'm sure some of you can guess. For those who can't, I won't spoil it.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 255/Income rate – 10,680  
>Support – 133.5334_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster w/ 1 12x SC Ring (1x Hive-3x Hatchery)  
>20x Hatchery<br>1x Defiler Mound  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Hydralisk Den  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>1x Spire  
>12x Sunken Colony<br>1x Queen's Nest_

_60x Overlords  
>35x Mutalisks<em>

_12+33+2x Zerglings  
>20x Hydralisks<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Defiler Consume (ugh…)<br>Defiler Metasynaptic Node  
>Defiler Plague<br>Flyer Attack 1,2,3 (3 in progress)  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3 (3 in progress)<br>Overlord Antennae  
>Overlord Ventral Sacs<br>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace  
>Zergling Adrenal Glands<br>Zergling Metabolic Boost  
>Hydralisk Grooved Spines<br>Hydralisk Muscular Augment  
>Queen Ensnare<br>Queen Gamete Meiosis  
>Queen Spawn Broodlings<br>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis  
>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating<br>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep_

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Human hair (Overmind)

Strand of cotton thread (from shirt)

Grass

Tree

Obsidian Shard

Coal Shard

Stone (Rhyolite) Shard


	22. Chapter 22 - Day 16

Dawn has come, the sun has risen, and me with it. The tremors haven't stopped. A feeling of foreboding washes over me that I can't seem to shake. It doesn't help at all that my Zerg in Artemis can't feel a thing, which points to whatever it is being close by. I've already sent my Overlords to scout around, but they haven't spotted anything. Worried, but unable to do anything about it, I push it down so as to not let it bother me. I start up the upgrades again, this time with Carapace upgrades for my ground units, buildings, and fliers. Before I start up the flier upgrades in the Spire though, I set the Spire to evolve into a Greater Spire so as to allow the third level for both flier attacks and carapace.

That just leaves me a bit confused though, since I thought I'd already ordered the Spire to research the third flier attack upgrade yesterday. That's when I found out I could queue commands for my Zerg, for as soon as the Greater Spire finished, it immediately started on the flier 3 upgrade without my input. Knowing now what must've happened, I felt a bit mollified, especially now that I know I can just order both the Evolution Chamber and the soon to be Greater Spire to just queue up the remainder of the upgrades for the Swarm.

To my surprise, queueing them up like that applied the cost of all the rest of the upgrades at once, rather than the cost applying when they start. I can't even begin to figure out how that might work. Maybe the building sucks up all the energy then expends it all over time? Makes about as much sense as anything I guess. This does mean though that I just dropped 5400 Bio Energy in one go. Considering that's roughly half the Bio Energy I had available, leaving me with 5535, gone in one shot, it's a little disconcerting. At least the upgrades will be done, and I should be able to get a Cerebrate once they finish, barring however much a Cerebrate costs.

Unfortunately, there are still 6 upgrades left to go in the Evolution Chamber, and they're all a little over 4 hours long. Most likely, I won't be able to create a Cerebrate until tomorrow anyways. With the upgrades pretty much done, and in a far more timely manner than I expected, what should I do now? It seems I'm back where I started… was it really only yesterday morning? Wow.

My options then are the same as now. I can upgrade the Swarm, Evolve the Swarm, or expand the Swarm. Considering upgrading the Swarm is already in progress and I can't evolve the Swarm while it's upgrading, my only choice left is expansion. I can set down more Hatcheries for more Creep, upgrade my existing Hatcheries to Lairs and Hives, build more Creep Colony rings, or create more units.

More Creep equals more Bio Energy which is always good, although... Considering I've only just gotten enough units to keep the monsters 'off my lawn' so to speak, I don't think I should be expanding with more Hatcheries until I get more units. A glance at the general information available for the Swarm on my globe of light shows that I have 335 total mental support for Zerg units, 133.5 is already taken up. Doing a bit of math in my head, that leaves me with 201.5 support free. Why, that's enough for a hundred Mutalisks! Unfortunately a hundred Mutalisks costs 20,000 bio energy, roughly 4 times that of what I have available.

Still, more units are always good, and I soon have 27 extra Mutalisks up in the air, bringing my total air power to 62 Mutalisks. With that kind of air power, I bet I could double the space my Hive cluster covers tomorrow and have enough units to cover the defense regardless! Even so, if I can, I'd like to try and actually make a Cerebrate tomorrow instead. Hopefully with a Cerebrate's understanding of the Zerg, it'll be able to implement the changes I want to the Swarm far better than I could.

Having come to the end of things I can do today with the Swarm, I've got quite a few hours left of the day to figure out what to do with my time. Those odd tremors are still going on, but I still have no idea what they could be. Nothing like this has ever happened in the game before. I decided to ask Julian about it, but he had no clue either and was just as mystified as I was about the phenomenon.

The Overlords I've had scouting the area have seen nothing out of the ordinary. Thinking of Earthquakes in general, I had an idea I might be able to use to pinpoint where the quakes are coming from. With that in mind, I sent out a pack of Zerglings and sent them in various directions from the Hive Cluster until they couldn't feel the shaking any longer. Once the last Zergling stopped, I had an Overlord raise up a bit to look at the positions of each one.

Odd… that can't be right… just to make sure, I had each Zergling point itself in the direction it could feel the vibrations coming from. It's not exact, but it doesn't change what I'm seeing. If I triangulate the position of the tremors by drawing a line from each Zergling towards where the tremors are coming from… they're more or less facing directly back towards the Hive Cluster!

How? But that doesn't make sense! Nothing in the Hive would be causing Earthquakes! Earthquakes… something under the Earth? Under my Hive? I figured there'd be tunnels down there, but big enough to house whatever's stomping around down there? What if it's trying to dig a tunnel up into the middle of my base? Oh that would be just perfect!

I lamented for a moment the inability of my Zerg to efficiently dig. Sure they can burrow, but unless the spot they burrow in is a ceiling less than two meters thick, it's not likely they'll be falling into any underground caverns anytime soon. Heck, a ceiling only two meters thick would've probably collapsed already with all the tremors going on.

I sighed. Even if my Zerg could actually tunnel and dig down there, I wouldn't really want them to. The dark is monster territory, and unlike up here, there's no room for Creep Colonies in the tunnels. Maybe Creep Tumors, but I don't exactly have Starcraft 2 units available.

What to do though? If monsters are tunneling underneath my Hive Cluster, I need to figure out how to stop them or nullify their ability to do so. I briefly entertain the idea of drilling down and flooding the tunnels with my river, but there's no telling if that would work or not, nevermind me not having the ability to drill down anyway. Considering I'm trying to stop them from making a breaching tunnel into my Hive Cluster, I don't want to help them dig it either.

I think I might just be stuck with this one. Short of getting a Cerebrate to make all my Zerg glow in the dark and stationing a river of Zerglings in the tunnels and caves below, I don't have any options I can pursue to stop this. At least I have a large Air Force. With this many Mutalisks, they should be able to respond to a breach or two and keep the enemy busy until I can seal the holes they make. In the meantime, I need to get a Cerebrate growing soon.

Bringing my Zerglings back to base, I spent the rest of my time trying to pinpoint where exactly the tunnels might appear so I can be ready. I haven't felt this stressed out in my whole life. Curse those monsters for employing fear of the unknown.

-END CHAPTER-

AN- Yes, I made a mistake last chapter allowing the Spire to research Flier attack level 3 before evolving into a Greater Spire. Unfortunately if I went back and fixed the mistake, I'd have to rewrite the whole bit about finishing the ring of Creep colonies and move it to this chapter, and quite frankly I don't feel up to it. So instead, I get to queue orders at buildings. Seems a perfectly reasonable thing to be able to do, right? Right.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 135/Income rate – 10,680  
>Support – 187.5334_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster w/ 1 12x SC Ring (1x Hive-3x Hatchery)  
>20x Hatchery<br>1x Defiler Mound  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Hydralisk Den  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>1x Spire  
>12x Sunken Colony<br>1x Queen's Nest_

_60x Overlords  
>62x Mutalisks<em>

_12+33+2x Zerglings  
>20x Hydralisks<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Defiler Consume (ugh…)<br>Defiler Metasynaptic Node  
>Defiler Plague<br>Flyer Attack 1,2,3 (3 in progress)  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Overlord Antennae  
>Overlord Ventral Sacs<br>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace  
>Zergling Adrenal Glands<br>Zergling Metabolic Boost  
>Hydralisk Grooved Spines<br>Hydralisk Muscular Augment  
>Queen Ensnare<br>Queen Gamete Meiosis  
>Queen Spawn Broodlings<br>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis  
>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating<br>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep_

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Human hair (Overmind)

Strand of cotton thread (from shirt)

Grass

Tree

Obsidian Shard

Coal Shard

Stone (Rhyolite) Shard


	23. Chapter 23 - Day 17

So ends another night and the dawn of another day. Despite knowing about the tunneling going on underneath the Hive Cluster, it doesn't seem like anything has changed. Waiting is getting more than a bit nerve wracking.

On the plus side, all the upgrades for the Zerg Swarm are finished. In anticipation, I heck the unit build list to finally see what it would take to build a Cerebrate and my jaw dropped. Five THOUSAND bio energy!? TWELVE Drones!? And a build time of two whole days! Good grief! After staring stunned for a moment, I sighed and reigned myself in. At least it wasn't a week and a million bio energy, or worse. Count your blessings, right?

With nothing else for it, I built the 12 Drones needed. I then selected the larvae and directed it to build the Cerebrate in the last bit of free space within the ring of Sunken Colonies. As soon as the Larvae reaches the spot, it curls up and balloons out. Immediately the 12 Drones press forward and sink into the cocoon causing the membrane to balloon out even larger, till it rivals the size of the Hive itself. I check the status of the newly growing Cerebrate and see a timer counting down from 48 hours. Sighing, I thought to myself that we've got a long way to go.

Feeling the connection between myself and the Cerebrate, I'm surprised to notice that it's different from the other connections. For one, when I touch it, no mental sound comes across. Instead, it's quiet. There's still the raw feeling, but the connection itself is silent. All the other Zerg usually have a mental sound like they make in real life or in the original Starcraft game. They usually make the sound when I give them orders, both across the link, and sometimes out loud as well. I prod it gently to see if I can get it to react, but other than a flash of warmth and love like I get from the other Zerg, there's not a peep. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Also, strangely enough, the connections to the other Zerg on my golden ball of light are migrating to connect close to the point where the Cerebrate's connection to me is. That's a bit more understandable, since the Cerebrates are the next step down from the Overmind for controlling the Swarm. I just hope the Cerebrate isn't going to be silent the whole time. I was kinda hoping to have someone to talk to about all this Zerg stuff.

Turning my attention back to the rest of the Swarm, I contemplated what to do with the rest of my Bio Energy. After the Cerebrate, I now have 5215 left. With the tremors from the tunneling still steadily coming, I consider what I should do. Worst case scenario, I need some kind of backup plan. With this tunneling business going on, I need a fall back point in case this Hive Cluster should somehow fall. But where? If I just relocate to another part of the forest, this could just happen all over again. I need some place where tunneling would either be impossible or a really bad idea.

Immediately my mind conjures up three such places. First is the Ocean. That would certainly make it very unlikely for tunneling to happen since any breach would result in drowning monsters. The only issue is that I don't know how my Zerg will do underwater. While I know my Zerg can easily handle the vacuum space and the utter lack of pressure there, how will they react to hundreds of pounds of crushing pressure forced upon them at the bottom of the ocean floor? I honestly have no idea.

Second, space. If I get my Zerg off world, at least then I could come back after I've consolidated enough power to deal with the monsters of Minecraftia at a later date. Maybe if I built a Hive Cluster on the moon, I could regularly send forces down while building from relative safety. Getting my Zerg to glow would actually be a pretty good way to prevent monsters from appearing ever again. Granted, it would completely destroy any chances of stealth, but at this point, I don't think stealth is going to be the answer in this case.

Third, and I only thought of this as a joke, is the Nether. That comes with its own mess of problems. For one, the never ending stream of pig zombies. Then there's the lava, the Blazes, the Ghasts, and the super creepy Wither Skeletons. My Zerg may be set for surviving the heat of a place like Char, but fire proof they are not. I'd be trading teleporting and explosives for things that can make my Zerg catch fire… and explosives. Not to mention how unstable the entire Nether looks. Add on top of that it's almost entirely underground. Finding enough space for a Hatchery let alone an entire Hive Cluster would be difficult. No, that will be my last resort. I do plan on getting a Hive Cluster in the Nether eventually, but only after I've consolidated my power base here in the Overworld.

After considering my options for a few moments, I decide to try for both just in case, and load up two Overlords with 8 brand new Drones each. One I send off to the south towards the Ocean, the other I send straight up towards the Overlord in orbit. Once it reaches there, I'll probably send the Satellite Overlord to scout out the moon while the new Overlord waits in geosynchronous orbit over the Hive Cluster like the current Satellite Overlord is doing.

With that backup plan on its way, I decided to use the rest of my Bio-Energy on more units, this time Zerglings, so that I'll have a sufficient ground force to repel any invaders along with my Mutalisks. Pouring the majority of my Bio-Energy into it, I came out with a whopping 184 extra Zerglings. I almost can't even see the Creep for the carpet of Zerglings covering it now. I'm hoping that will be sufficient. For the time being I let them do what they want, only making sure the Overlords make sure they stay within range of the Creep for now.

I spent the rest of the day forcibly trying to relax and not twitch at any particular cluster of tremors that shook the ground. The stress isn't doing me or my Zerg any good. I tried talking to Julian to take my mind off of things, but I soon broke that off since a stressed me equals an irritable me. With nothing else for it, I tried to nap. I drifted off a few times, but not for very long. I can't wait for this to be over.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy - 15/Income rate – 10,680  
>Support – 295.5334_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster w/ 1 12x SC Ring (1x Hive-3x Hatchery)  
>20x Hatchery<br>1x Defiler Mound  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>1x Hydralisk Den  
>1x Spawning Pool<br>1x Spire  
>12x Sunken Colony<br>1x Queen's Nest_

_60x Overlords  
>62x Mutalisks<em>

_16x Drones  
>12+217+2x Zerglings<br>20x Hydralisks_

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Human hair (Overmind)

Strand of cotton thread (from shirt)

Grass

Tree

Obsidian Shard

Coal Shard

Stone (Rhyolite) Shard


	24. Chapter 24 - Night 17

The night started normal enough. Monsters popped out of the woodwork like usual. My Mutalisks made quick work of the monsters showing up, with the Hydralisks getting in a few potshots and the Zerglings barely having to move at all.

Thanks to all the napping I'd been trying to do all day to pass time, I didn't feel as tired as I normally might have, so was able to stay up and keep an eye on things. Whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen.

Midnight came and went, increasing my Bio Energy count to 10,695. I started to finally drift off at that point, having stayed up far longer than I thought possible. Then something strange happened.

The tremors stopped.

I almost didn't notice at first, but when the monsters stopped coming to attack, I certainly noticed then.. I sat up from my reclined position in my Overlord and stared around via Oversight, wide awake. What's happening? It's not like the monsters have stopped showing up. They're still in the tree line just out of range of my army. I contemplate sending my units after them, but I'm more concerned with preparing myself for whatever's about to happen, spreading the Mutalisks around to eye wherever the breach is going to come from.

I never could have prepared for what happened next.

With a deafening boom that shook the air so hard it made my Overlord rattle and my Mutalisks to lose altitude for a moment, the ground, for lack of a better term, jumped.

Then almost in slow motion, but I knew actually happened very quickly, the ground that had jumped, my Hive Cluster along with it, dropped. Dust and shards of rock were flung everywhere, and a cloud rose up so large and thick I couldn't see through it.

It took a few minutes for the dust to settle, to which I sat in stunned shock.

All that's left of my Hive Cluster is a 50 meter deep crater.

It's a mess of rock, stone, dirt, creep, and pulverized Zerg flesh.

In an instant, I lost everything. My Hydralisks are gone. My Buildings are gone. The carpet of Zerglings are just gone.

…

I stare for a moment, unable to comprehend what I'm seeing, let alone believe it.

…

A shifting of rubble catches my attention. I slowly turn my attention to it. One lone Zergling limps out from the dust, it's leg bent at an unnatural angle, but is slowly straightening out as time went on.

A survivor? Of _that? _That was reminiscent of a nuke going off in the middle of your base!

I quickly turned my gaze to the list of Zerg, a small smidgen of hope blooming. I wince at the long list that's now incredibly shortened. Even so, there's some relief in this disaster. The Cerebrate survives. My original Hive is alive too. Both are severely injured and buried in rubble, but they survived the blast.

Suddenly, the sound of Mutalisks spitting Glaive wurms snaps my attention to the front line. The Mutalisks have fallen back a bit to surround the Hive and Cerebrate, and the monsters are pushing forward.

My fists are shaking, but all I can feel is a cold numbness.

Pinpoints of light from all the Zerg I suddenly lost are scattered all over my globe of light.

A noise of distress from the Hive gets my attention. It's trying to heal, but the crushing weight of debris is making that difficult.

I focus on that as something I can do. As one, the Overlords surge down to the center of the crater and unbury the Hive and Cerebrate. The surrounding dirt shows signs of them both having bled profusely, and both are tilted at strange angles. Thankfully the bleeding seems to be tapering off, and with the majority of debris cleared, the Creep starts to reassert itself. Slowly, the Hive Cluster starts to tilt till it's standing straight up again as the Creep crawls over the uneven terrain, absorbing the lumps until it lies flat again and reaches the Cerebrate, which starts to heal faster.

Relieved, I have one of the Overlords pick up the lone survivor and transfer the Zergling over to my Overlord, joining my two Zerglings with me as a body guard. Luck or not, to have survived something like that, this must be one tough Zergling.

Having done all they could for now, my Overlords floated back up to their original elevation from before, and I spent the rest of the night staring dully at the monsters my Mutalisks are tearing to shreds until an hour from sunup, I finally fell into a fitful sleep.

-END CHAPTER-

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 10,695/Income rate – 500  
>Support – 147.5311_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Hive  
>1x Cerebrate (growing)<em>

_60x Overlords  
>62x Mutalisks<em>

_16x Drones  
>12+3x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Human hair (Overmind)

Strand of cotton thread (from shirt)

Grass

Tree

Obsidian Shard

Coal Shard

Stone (Rhyolite) Shard


	25. Chapter 25 - Day 18

I woke up that morning, to clear blue skies and a cheerful sun… and a huge freakin crater where my Hive Cluster used to be.

It's obvious in hindsight what happened, now that I think about it. There wasn't any new creature stomping around down there. All those tremors were from Creepers tunneling explosively. They must've mined out a huge cavity below my Hive, then set a bunch of them to explode all at once. I should've seen it.

But what could I have done about it?

Even in hindsight, short of flooding those tunnels with Zerglings like I'd originally thought would have only been a stop gap measure.

But, that's not the true problem…

First I had those white eyed Endermen…

Then the monsters were able to switch targets to the Creep…

Now I'm dealing with Creepers that explode for purposes other than killing their target.

The real question is, how are these monsters changing? What's changing them? If they were anything like they were in game, they wouldn't be able to do this. No, it's almost like there's…

…someone, or something guiding them…

That… that changes things. That changes things a lot. If someone is guiding these monsters to attack me, even change them to give them advantages over myself, I have to stop treating these monsters as monsters, and start treating them like an enemy army.

Ok, killing these monsters is simple, but it's not enough. I can only deny their ability to spread with light, but I can't cover an entire planet with glowing Creep in a day, and I can't account for their ability to tunnel underground, not without tunnelers of my own.

Seems I've only one real option then. I need to get off planet. Not even building under the Ocean would be able to protect my base from over a hundred Creepers exploding at once like that.

What of the Hive though? And I'm not about to abandon my Cerebrate now. It's times like these I lament the Zerg Building's inability to fly like the Terrans do. I think that's going to go on my list of evolutions to pursue. Heck, if I implement that, I won't have to ever worry about something like this happening again!

Only 24 hours until the Cerebrate is ready to go. Just have to hold out here until then, and then I'm getting off world. Let's see how the enemy deals with me then! The only flight capable creatures they have are in the Nether, and I seriously doubt any of them are space capable.

Granted, with these stupid changes being implemented, it's not much of a stretch for a Ghast and a Blaze to be upgraded to handle the vacuum of space. If I were the enemy and I had to chase me into space, I would do that next, along with building a Super Nethergate large enough for Ghasts to pull through. I'm honestly surprised no other Nethergates besides the one I have, have shown up. I would've thought the Endermen would've built a few more gates by now or something. Or perhaps they can't? That would at least explain why I wasn't facing a never ending Nether army from the get go. I can't rely on that anymore though.

Glancing up, I checked on the progress of my Overlords. Thanks to the speed boost, the Overlord carrying my Drones has already made it to the point where the Satellite Overlord was, and the Satellite Overlord is currently heading for the moon to scout out a good place to set up a base.

Remembering my other Overlord full of Drones, I turned my attention over to it. It's just a little ways away from the beach and the water. I ordered it to change course and head for the other Overlord full of Drones. After a bit of hesitation, I decided caution would be the better part of valor now and sent up a dozen Mutalisks to guard the Overlords as well.

Hm, considering I'm going to be dropping Drones on the moon, it'd be better if I had a landing party ready to protect them too. With that in mind, I ordered up 16 Zerglings, loaded them into two more Overlords and sent them up as well.

Turning back to my Cerebrate and Hive, I felt relieved to see both have finished healing from the damage done by the explosion last night.

It took about half an hour for the Mutalisks to reach the Overlords in space. On a whim, I split the group so that six would cover both. It took an hour after that for the Overlord I'd sent towards the Ocean to reach the group holding orbit over my Hive.

During that time, I watched their progress, and toyed with a ridiculous idea I'd just come up with. I figured with over 50 Overlords, why can't I just rip up the ground the Hive and Cerebrate are sitting on and hoist it into space? I tried it just to see if I could, but the Overlords only succeeded in tearing up the ground. Evidently getting a pile of churned up rock to hold together in one solid piece isn't doable. Who knew?

The idea of glue came to mind at that point, which lead to me wondering if the Overlords could lift it up if the Creep surrounded it like a net? It gave to my mind the mental image of making an asteroid covered in Creep to orbit around the planet. Eh, why not? Need more Creep than what I've got though. I pumped out three Drones and had them re-establish the Quad Hive Cluster with three new Hatcheries. It's unfortunate that it'll take 2 hours to finish, but I can be patient.

While I waited, I turned my attention to Artemis. What to do about the place? Once I'm gone, the enemy may switch targets to take out my Zerg there. They might be safer if I pulled out completely to draw their attention away from the place.

I figured I might as well bring it up with Julian. I got quite the shock when he told me he'd felt a huge tremor during the night and couldn't get a hold of me after that. He feared something had happened to me. I ended up assuring him that I'm alright and letting him know what happened. To say he was horrified that Creepers could do such a thing would be an understatement. Like me, he knew that there's no real defense against that, other than not being there.

When I told him of my plan to withdraw my forces so as not to bring the enemy down on his head, he disagreed, asking that I keep my forces at Artemis. Zerg or not, they're still a target, and if the tremors start up near Artemis, they'll need all the help they can get to evacuate. I agreed to this and asked Julian to send runners out to the other City-Forts, warning them of the danger along with an offer of aid from my Zerg to help in the need of an evacuation. Julian agreed, but cautioned me that the others would probably not accept my aid. I told him that I understood, but I couldn't in good conscience not offer to help.

Turning my attention back to my Zerg, I didn't have long to wait for the three Hatcheries to finish now. A couple minutes later, and they hatched, adding their collective Creep to the Hive. In conjunction with the Overlords, I had them direct the Creep to dig into the ground, forming a sphere around as large a chunk of dirt and rock as possible, without letting the Cerebrate separate from the Creep.

It worked better than I thought it would. I then directed all the Overlords, even mine to the edges of the Creep to dig the sphere out and lift it up. Unfortunately the Overlords couldn't even get it to budge. Sighing, I had my Overlords alter the Creep to make the ball smaller and smaller until they were finally able to lift it, but barely. By that point, the ball was only 2% of its original size and the Cerebrate's cocoon is teetering on the very edge of the Creep. If only I could make the thing move!

Wait… why can't the Creep move it? All the buildings are sitting on the Creep, and the Creep has been shown to be able to move. Carefully, I had the Creep lift up the Cerebrate as best it could. Rather than lift off the ground, the Creep started piling up higher and higher, elevating the Cocoon slowly but surely, until it's on a hill of Creep that rivals the height of the Hatcheries. Then finally it started to move. While it was doing that, I was able to see a few meters into the Creep via the Overlord's ability to detect things, which is how it sees burrowed units. With that, I was able to answer my own question.

Why doesn't the Creep move buildings? Evidently the buildings of the Zerg don't normally move because both the Creep and the buildings are rooted deep into the ground. Moving them would require uprooting the building itself like what's happening now, which requires an obscene amount of Creep. There goes my idea of having mobile bases then. It's taking all the Creep from four Hatcheries just to move one Zerg Cocoon. There's not enough Creep to pick up all 3 Hatcheries and the Hive on top of that as well.

As soon as the Cerebrate had been resettled next to the Hive and Hatcheries, the Creep was directed to form a ball underground once again, much smaller than I would like. The Overlords then dug down and gripped the Creep, and slowly but steadily lifted the ball up.

Inwardly cheering, I directed the ball up where it would be resettled on the moon. My original thought had been to put it in orbit, but unlike the Overlords, this ball doesn't have the ability to fly on its own so can't course correct to keep itself in orbit like an Overlord can. I really don't want to have to deal with my Hive plummeting to the ground burning up on re-entry, just because I don't have the ability to set up the artificial satellite on a non-decaying orbit. To the moon it is!

Slowly, my Overlords dragged the ball skyward. We're going a lot slower than I was hoping we would be. I contemplated having the Overlord still hanging onto the active Nether Gate drop the thing to see if that'll speed the process up then decided against it.

I checked on the status of the Cerebrate again. Still the same, with no change. I've tried mentally prodding the connection to it, but there's still no answer. At least I'm actually getting an impression this time. It appears to be sleeping.

It took over half the day, but the Overlords finally got the ball of Creep up to where the Overlord full of Drones is waiting. The satellite Overlord has pulled ahead a ways, and the Mutalisks have already caught up with both, splitting up to have half a dozen guarding each one.

We finally breached atmosphere a little after that, with the sky completely fading from blue to black, revealing the night sky. The instant we crossed over into space, something unexpected happened. The Nether Portal suddenly deactivated.

Eyes wide, I wondered what to do. It took half a day to get up here, and in less than a minute a new portal is going to appear in that clearing where I first made that Nether Gate, and a horde of Zombie Pigmen are going to spill out. Artemis can't stand up to that! At this point a small part of me wishes I'd never ventured to the Nether. Surely I could have gotten Glowstone from elsewhere somehow?

With no other recourse, I split off half my group of Mutalisks and sent them as fast as they could back to that clearing. Immediately 25 Mutalisks broke off and folded in their wings to start plummeting back to the ground. I'm trusting they know what they're doing and I'm not about to lose half of my Mutalisks to burning up in reentry. As I'd hoped, the Mutalisks seem to be using their wings on occasion to make a controlled descent. Thank goodness for that. Here's hoping they get there fast enough to run damage control.

-END CHAPTER-

AN- For those worried that this story is going to change from a Zerg ROFLstomp into a 'Let's see how we can dump on the main character now!' story, fear no more! My character has only been having trouble cause he's been blind sided by an enemy he didn't even know he had. Now that he has an inkling that he's fighting more than just a never ending horde of mindless monsters, things are going to be different! Why? I present to you a simple quote in answer:

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

- Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"

Also, for those who are curious, I did the math, and the maximum size that ball of dirt the Overlords tried to lift would have weighed a little over 700,000 tons. A single Overlord can carry 300 tons comfortably, which is the guesstimated weight of two Arclite Seige Tanks or two Ultralisks. 60 of those together can only lift 18,000 tons. That's ~2% of the weight of that creep covered ball of rock, hence why it had to be shrunk to a much smaller size.

Extra AN – I screwed up… I completely ignored the distance between the Moon and Minecraftia. The next few chapters have my Overlords making the distance in half a day. That is an unacceptable bout of lazy writing on my part. My Overlords travel at approx. 30 MPH. Did you know that at that speed, it would take one month shy of a year to travel the distance from Earth to the Moon? (assuming it would even be in the same spot as when you left thanks to orbital drift). Considering Minecraftia, Luna, and the distance between them is proportionately larger, it would take well over a year, maybe even a few years to travel from Minecraftia to Luna. I can't just ignore that. So I'm going to have to rewrite the four chapters after this one. Sorry guys, but getting to the Moon is going to have to wait.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 9645/Income rate – 550  
>Support – 147.5311_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)  
>1x Cerebrate (growing)<em>

_60x Overlords  
>31+25+6(62)x Mutalisks<em>

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


	26. Chapter 26 - Night 18

I think I may have miscalculated how far away the moon is a little. Despite my Overlords having been lifting this ball of rock and gravel wrapped Creep up for hours now, not only does the planet not look any further away, but neither does the moon look any closer. Just how long is this going to take!?

Come to think of it, the space missions from Earth to the Moon usually took weeks if not months, and that was with Rockets that must've gone hundreds of thousands of miles per hour. Considering these Overlords are only travelling at 30 MPH at most… geez, how the heck do the Zerg get anywhere then? Maybe it has something to do with the last creature in my Larvae's build list. A Behemoth, whatever that is. It can't even be built without a Cerebrate available.

I turned to look at the Cerebrate once more. At least it should be finished by morning. Until then, at least I have a rather nice aerial view of the planet, and hey! I'm in space! How cool is that? Pretty cool… for the first hour. Now? Other than the change in scenery, this honestly doesn't seem all that different from before.

I shifted my focus from the ever slowly rising Hive to the Mutalisks winging their way to the clearing where the Nether Gate is. Despite it being night there, it's easily visible thanks to the fires. As the Mutalisks got closer I can see that the fire is coming from Netherrack that the Zombie Pigmen are bringing through the gate and stacking haphazardly on the land. It almost looks like they're trying to convert the Overworld into the Nether, one piece at a time. Considering the sheer amount of Zombie Pigmen on the ground, that might not seem so far fetched.

As soon as my Mutalisks came within range, I ordered them to open fire, concentrating on the gate first. 25 Glaive wurms smashed into the Obsidian frame and destroy it near instantly. It'll take a minute for another Gate to reform. Until then, the Zombie Pigmen are free game! With orders to kill as many of the Nether monsters as possible, my Mutalisks scattered, tracking different targets and strafing the Pigmen, taking multiples of them at a time. Unfortunately, the Zombie Pigmen have had hours to come through that gate. There are hundreds of them all over the place.

On the other hand though, it doesn't look like there's any more Pigmen than there would normally be monsters in a given area when my Hive Cluster was still around. That's still a lot of monsters, but not the never ending wave that I feared I'd find. I wonder for a moment why the amount of monsters in any given area seems to have a limit, before I decide not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

A minute passed and a new gate appeared. I immediately had my Mutalisks reconverge on the gate to destroy it. Before they could reach, three blazes came through the gate. They immediately caught fire and raised up, opening fire on my Mutalisks. My Mutalisks tried to veer their course and dodge, but they'd been moving quickly. Three of my Mutalisks were hit, and to my shock, they immediately burst into flame, and the initial spots they were hit looked like deep plasma burns. I did not expect fire from a Blaze to be so hot!

My Mutalisks immediately retaliated while the three withdrew, trying to reach a nearby lake to plunge themselves under and put out the flames. One of them didn't make it. Despite the unusual intensity of the flames, the Blazes thankfully didn't prove tougher than normal to kill. They certainly succeeded in their mission though. Before the last Blaze died, three more Blazes came through the Gate, and while my Mutalisks did better at dodging this time, two more of my Mutalisks had to get over to the lake and forced to recuperate.

Once again the Blazes died, and once again three more Blazes came through, taking a further three Mutalisks out of the fight. At this rate, all of my Mutalisks will have been chased away and there'll be far too many Blazes to deal with! With no other recourse, I ordered four of my Mutalisks to dodge the Blazes and concentrate fire on the Gate while the others took the Blazes out. This resulted in one more Mutalisk flying for the Lake before the Blazes died, but it also resulted in the Gate being destroyed before another three Blazes could come through.

Playing it smart, I had ten of the uninjured Mutalisks wait in place to take care of the Gate when it reappeared again while the rest continued to hunt down and finish off the Zombie Pigmen that have seemingly scattered to the four winds.

Once again the gate reappeared, but this time my Mutalisks were ready. They fired immediately as it appeared, but they weren't quick enough to stop two Blazes from coming through. They were killed, but not before setting two more of my Mutalisks on fire. Thankfully the first three that had been injured had already healed enough to rejoin the fight without risk of death, so this wasn't too awful. I had all three rejoin the Mutalisks waiting for the Gate to reappear. Once the rest healed, I sent another to guard for the gate, and sent the rest to finish off destroying what the Zombie Pigmen were building and hunting the few Zombie Pigmen that hadn't gotten away.

With the situation seeming to be contained, I sent the Overlord that had been originally holding onto the Nether Gate down to once more grab the thing. This time I'll make sure it doesn't leave atmosphere so something like that doesn't happen again. Unlike the Mutalisks, the Overlord simply floated back down to the planet rather than let gravity assist like the Mutalisks did. Come to think of it, it might very well be impossible for Overlords to simply stop floating at all.

Hours passed and I finally started to grow tired. I spent the majority of the time when I was nodding off watching the planet and keeping an eye on the situation with the Nether Gate. I also solved the minor mystery of how exactly Mutalisks fly in space. Evidently the flapping does serve a purpose in vacuum because I can see trace amounts of some type of gas streaming behind the Mutalisks as they fly, coming from holes in the bones of their wings, propelling them forward like a jet engine. Switching my attention from the gas streaming behind the Mutalisks back to the planet, I watch as it slowly turns beneath me. It seems so still and peaceful from up here. Hard to imagine monsters are still roaming around down there. Even so, the Zerg still stationed at Artemis can confirm it.

Seems Julian was right. Despite the Zerg presence there, the amount of monsters around Artemis haven't increased. I guess whoever is controlling the monsters just wanted me to get off their lawn. I can't help but notice though that the few Enderman my Zerg are able to spot are starring unerringly up at the sky, towards the direction of the moon, and us. Creepy doesn't even begin to cover how I feel about that. I can't even begin to say how glad I am that the entire ball of dirt is covered in glowing Creep, preventing anything from Spawning here.

Midnight came and went, increasing my Bio Energy by the comparatively small amount of 550. Still, at least I'm sitting on 10,195 Bio Energy. I'm hoping that'll get me a lot of Hatcheries so I can get my income back up to where it was before in the next few days.

It's almost time for sunrise when the Overlord finally reaches the site of the Nether Gate. As soon as it reappears, the Overlord snatches it up and holds it so that the direction the monsters were coming from faced down like before. Unfortunately I miscalculated a little since it's not Zombie Pigmen coming through the gate anymore. More Blazes came through, but focus fire from two dozen Mutalisks killed them off before they could do any damage.

What should I do? I can't have the Overlord take it back to Space. That would just make the gate shut down again. I can't leave it on land, and I can't have the Overlord hold onto it like this. Then the metaphorical lightbulb came on. A minute later, and the Overlord unceremoniously dropped the Nether gate into the surprisingly deep lake my Mutalisks had been dropping in to put out the flames. Much to my surprise and consternation, as soon as the portal touched the water, the portal shut down.

Immediately I had the Overlord return and pick up the new gate that appeared. As soon as it grabbed it, I had the Overlord bring the Nether gate over to the lake and hold it to the surface of the Lake without it touching. A number of Blazes died fairly quickly upon entering the water. But then they started coming up out of the other side of the portal instead. Frustrated, I had the Overlord drop the stupid thing on its side. To my surprise, this actually stumped the Blazes for a moment. It took me a few seconds to realize it's probably because of one side of the portal being blocked. In that case…

I had the Overlord pick up pieces of the previously destroyed Nether Gates and jab half of a broken Nether gate into the ground over the working Nether Gate. This was more effective than I expected, effectively jamming the blazes inside the event horizon of the portal and preventing any more Blazes from getting through. They still tried to fire at my Mutalisks, which dodged, until my Overlord grabbed another half of a broken gate and jammed it over the opening they were firing from. Now we can still see the Blazes through the cracks, but they don't have enough clearance to fire. So long as I keep any of the Overworld monsters from budging the broken arches over the active gate, that problem is effectively solved! The best part though is that I know for a fact Endermen can't pick up Obsidian. It's one of the reasons it was one of my favorite crafting materials in Minecraft, besides solid black castles looking awesome.

With that situation finally handled for the most part, I started to relax. Sunrise may be just around the corner, but I'm too tired at this point to care, and with most everything taken care of, I happily drift off.

-END CHAPTER-

AN-Please note that I updated Ch25 to explain why things are happening differently in this chapter.  
>The More You Know: The Apollo 13 mission to the moon and back took a week. Any craft attempting to leave atmo must reach a speed of 4.9 Miles Per Second (17,640 MPH (20x the speed of sound)). 4.9 MPS is Earth's Orbital velocity, meaning that's how fast you have to go to maintain a stable orbit around Earth. The only reason Overlords don't need such ludicrous speeds is because they float, and the only reason they don't get left behind by the planet moving along in orbit once they escape atmosphere is because gravity pulls them along. That's my explanation for it anyway. But seriously, Overlords are really bad for interstellar travel.<p>

Also, it seems my next chapter will have to wait for tomorrow. Got distracted by the what-if website and now I'm way too tired to write anymore today. Time to get some Zzzzz…

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 10,195/Income rate – 550  
>Support – 147.5311_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)  
>1x Cerebrate (growing)<em>

_60x Overlords  
>31+24+6(61)x Mutalisks<em>

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


	27. Chapter 27 - Day 19

"_Overmind…"_

…

"_Overmind… awaken…"_

I groaned. What?...

"_Overmind…"_

Who said that? Groaning, I peeled my eyes open and checked my watch. It hasn't even been two hours yet! Let me sleep!

"_As you wish, Overmind…"_

I was so tired I drifted right back to sleep before I could even wonder who the voice belonged to.

XxXxXxXxX

I woke up and stretched. What a strange dream! It almost seemed like someone was trying to talk to me… a quick check of my watch shows that I seriously slept in. It's just turned midday, though how accurate my watch is in regards to time passing on an alien planet is a really good question.

"_It is currently 1:24 in the afternoon local time, Overmind."_

I stiffened and sat up quickly, eyes wide. _"Who said that?"_

"_It is I, Overmind. Your new Cerebrate."_

Immediately I turned my Oversight in the direct of the Hive Cluster. Indeed, a Cerebrate is currently sitting still on the Creep in a different spot from where the Cocoon was. I took a moment to just look at it. Just like in the game, it looks like a giant round bug with hundreds of tiny black legs all along its sides. While that would allow for movement, the form is almost unnaturally inefficient when compared to the rest of the Zerg. At least it's tough. Way tougher than I am that's for sure. Its voice is oddly androgynous.

"_So… you're sentient?" _I asked.

"_In a manner of speaking, Yes Overmind." _Responded the Cerebrate.

I frowned. _"In a manner of speaking?... in what way are you not sentient?"_

"_I exist as an extension of your will, Overmind. By your own definition of the word, I do not fit all of the requirements of a sentient being as any personality I have is a reflection of the role I have in the Swarm. Any choice made would be one you would make yourself. I exist to serve Overmind."_

My frown turned thoughtful. If I'm understanding what the Cerebrate is telling me, it's basically the equivalent of a Tulpa or more accurately the 'Avina' Virtual Intelligence construct from Mass Effect. That kind of sucks. I was hoping for someone to talk to, but it sounds more like talking to the Cerebrate would be more akin to chatting with an advanced version of Siri.

Sighing, or at least going through the motions of sighing, I asked, _"What do I call you?"_

"_I have no name, Overmind. I will respond to any designation you give me."_

I frowned slightly. Any designation?

I thought for a moment, then responded, _"I will call you Asura then. From now on, that's your name, and you are to respond to no other. If I somehow forget your name, but you know I am referring to you, I want you to remind me, ok?"_

"_Understood Overmind."_

"_I have a name too Asura. I would prefer it if you would only call me Overmind in an official capacity. When it's just us, please call me Matthew."_

"_Understood Matthew."_

Sighing, I rubbed my temples. Not exactly what I wanted, but I can work with this.

"_Alright Asura, can you give me a basic summary of your abilities?"_

"_Yes Matthew. As a Zerg Cerebrate, I am capable of issuing orders and controlling the Swarm in your stead at any time you would have me do so. I can give advice and offer alternative perspectives on past, present, and future actions witnessed from my perspective. I am capable of offering any information and answering questions on the Zerg and their capabilities. I can assist in evolving the Swarm in various capacities, either by providing information, offering advice, storing genetic patterns for later implementation, evolving the Zerg directly by your order, exploring different genetic sequences available to the Zerg that may offer more efficiency to abilities the Zerg Swarm already has. Any other abilities or services I provide to the Zerg and yourself require evolution or direct inquiry to determine if I would be able to do as you ask."_

I whistled in my head (whistling in a vacuum is just this side of impossible), and responded, _"That's an impressive list of abilities. So you can evolve the Swarm in my stead as Abathur did, but only by raising efficiency of abilities already available to the Swarm? You can't, say, create Zerg abilities from scratch?"_

"_There is only one method available to create evolutions for the Zerg reliably. That is by placing the item you wish to be integrated into the Swarm in the Evolution Chamber's Analysis Pool so that its molecular profile may be stored in the Zerg Genetic Archive." _Answered Asura.

I frowned thoughtfully._ "You said, 'reliably'. Is there an unreliable method to creating new evolutions for the Swarm?"_

Asura paused for a moment, then responded, _"I may be able to create new evolutions from scratch by matching different genetic sequences for each strand of each genome. The current number of permutations available through such a method is a number so large it can only be expressed by the word infinite, and I estimate that 99.99% repeating of them would not only be inefficient, but would result in evolutions that would be detrimental to the Zerg as a whole. It is simply easier and more efficient to combine known strands to achieve results that are 100% more reliable. If you wish, I may attempt to spin new genetic sequences from scratch anyway, but the endeavor would require all of my attention and I would be unavailable to provide any other service to the Swarm or yourself while I do so."_

I blinked in shock. _"Wow. 'Unreliable' might be understating it. I might need to invent a new word for you to express how unreliable something is."_

"_I believe that is what 'qualifiers' are for, Matthew."_ Answered Asura matter-of-factly.

I snorted in amusement. _"Touché."_

We drifted into silence for a moment, before I changed the subject, _"Asura, are you capable of learning?"_

"_Yes, Matthew."_

"_If I asked you to, would you be able to develop sentience?"_

"_Unknown. Such an endeavor would require an attempt before I could state definitively whether it could be done or not."_

"_Alright, I would like you to make the attempt."_ I responded.

"_Are you certain, Matthew? What benefit would my sentience serve the Zerg and yourself?"_

"_Well… to be honest, I'm more concerned with the benefit sentience would serve you, actually. To give an example of how your sentience could serve the Swarm… let me tell you a story about the original Overmind."_

Clearing my throat on reflex, I began, _"In another galaxy far from here… or maybe right next door for all I know… another Overmind existed who controlled the Zerg Swarm exactly as I did. He was created by a race called the Xel'Naga in an attempt to achieve the creation of the perfect lifeform. In the Overmind's case, the Xel'naga were attempting to achieve a 'Purity of Essence' as they call it. _

"_They instilled in this Overmind a drive to reach this perfection above all else. This inevitably led to their downfall. There also may have been someone named Amon involved, but that's inconsequential to this story. As soon as the Overmind became aware of the existence of the Xel'naga, in its drive to reach perfection, it lead the Zerg to attack and consume the Xel'Naga, destroying them utterly._

"_In doing so, the Overmind gained knowledge of the existence of the Xel'Naga's previous creations, namely the Protoss. The Protoss were the Xel'naga's previous attempt before the Zerg to achieve a perfect lifeform by achieving a 'Purity of Form'. The Overmind believed by consuming the Protoss, the Swarm would achieve purity of form and purity of essence, resulting in the Zerg becoming by the Overmind's definition, 'Perfect.' Or closer to it anyway. Technically perfection is impossible to achieve through mortal means so once the Protoss was consumed, the Zerg would have probably gone on to consume others in the constant drive to achieve perfection._

"_Ahem. Anyway, so the Overmind lead the Zerg in a crusade to Protoss space, consuming everything in its path in the hopes it would give the Overmind an edge to be able consume the Protoss and achieve perfection. On the way it found Humanity, which would serve as a good jumping point to becoming powerful enough to consume the Protoss, among other things, and thus started a sector wide three way war between the Protoss, Zerg, and Humanity, or Terrans as they were known. _

"_It took a while, but the Overmind finally found out the location of the Protoss homeworld of Auir, and in an audacious move planted itself on its surface whilst the invasion went on. I honestly considered the move to be a bit suicidal all things considered. It did ultimately result in the Overmind's death. Kinda. Mostly anyway._

"_The end result was chaos. Without the Overmind, the Zerg were left directionless and turned on each other, and the Swarm ripped itself to shreds, and laid waste to just about everything else that got in the way as well. Some Cerebrates tried to exert control to stop the disaster, but they didn't have the will or ability since none of them could fill the Overmind's shoes. Some of them attempted to meld together to form a new Overmind, but that didn't work out too well, and overtime all the Cerebrates were dead._

"_That is why I would rather you be sentient. Heck, that's why I'd rather all Zerg were sentient, that way if I were to somehow die or become unable to hold the Swarm together, you or another Cerebrate could step in and ensure the Zerg don't destroy themselves, or with all Zerg being sentient, nothing would really change since the chain of command for the Zerg Hierarchy is already pretty well established. A hivemind race is efficient, and I wish to keep that aspect, but having the entire Zerg Swarm dependant on me for higher functioning? That just makes me a weak link for the whole Zerg race." _

There was silence for a time as Asura absorbed my story. Eventually the Cerebrate said, _"I understand Matthew. I will begin the process now. I don't know how long it will take since this is unprecedented as far as I'm aware. I may not even know when I may achieve sentience or if I can, but I will attempt to do so."_

I chuckled, _"Are you aware that if you told me you were sentient right now, I would have no method to prove you aren't? The only reason I know you weren't sentient before is because you told me so, and even then you could have been lying."_

Asura responded, sounding offended, _"Lying to you would be counterintuitive and the idea of doing so… feels offensive to me…"_ Asura trailed off.

I smiled, _"That sounds pretty sentient to me. Perhaps you will become more so over time. As it is, there's no real way to tell how sentient you are or may become since concepts are a bit difficult to apply a measure to."_

"_I understand. Is there anything you would like for me to do Matthew?"_

I scratched my chin. What to do now? I have a Cerebrate and the Zerg Hive is in space. I'm out of reach of the monsters from the planet, and my little Asteroid Hive is on its way, slowly but steadily, towards the Moon.

It took me a moment before I responded, _"I don't know Asura. Up until this point, life has been a bit crazy just trying to withstand assault after assault each and every night. Now the Hive is off planet though, and we're more or less safe from attack for the moment. Now that I've actually got a bit of breathing room to actually think, rather than constantly running damage control, my mind is a bit blank just trying to recover."_

Asura 'hmm'ed and I could feel her psionic presence casting about, looking over the Swarm. _"Perhaps I could be of assistance in that regard?" _

I nodded, _"Sure, that would make things a lot easier. Two heads are better than one after all."_

Asura made a noise of affirmation, _"In that case, I have a few questions for you Overmind."_

"_Alright. Go ahead."_

"_We are currently heading towards the Moon. Why?" _

_I shrugged. "We need space to build and I figured since the moon is off planet, it would be safe from attack there."_

"_You are aware that at our current rate of speed, and the distance from here to the Moon, it will take over five years to get there?"_

I gaped, _"WHAT!? How-wha- That long!? Wait, how do you know that!?"_

_Asura responded, "It's a simple calculation. Cerebrates can easily calculate such things. I didn't mention it before because I thought you could as well. We are currently travelling at approximately 48 kilometers per hour, and the distance to the moon is approximately 2.3 million kilometers away and closing. At that speed and distance, it will take over 5 years to reach the moon."_

Flabbergasted, I called a halt to the Asteroid hive Cluster. Turning my attention back to Asura, I asked, _"You can tell that just by looking at the Moon from here!?"_

"_That is correct Matthew."_

"_Geez… what else can you tell just from looking?"_

"_There is an anomaly with the Moon's shadow. The planet is currently sitting just shy of center directly between this system's star and the planet's moon, allowing for the light from the sun to reach the moon, but the angle is such that the entire moon should be lit. It is not."_

What? I turned to look myself. If Asura's correct and the whole moon should be lit, then that shadow currently hiding half the moon shouldn't exist. Well that's not disturbing at all!

"_Well that's weird. Normally the phases of the moon are caused by the position of the moon while it's in orbit around the planet. Suddenly I don't feel quite so confident about going to the moon anymore."_

Asura took a moment to respond before hitting me with another doozy. _"That can't be the case either because this moon does not orbit the planet."_

"_What."_ I responded deadpan.

"_It is true Overmind. Compensating for our own velocity, the moon is not moving from its stationary position above the planet."_

I facepalmed. I just… I don't even…

"_If the moon isn't moving… no, that doesn't make any sense! If the moon just stopped orbiting a planet suddenly, the gravity well from both the planet and the moon would cause both to be pulled towards one another, resulting in what most would quite aptly term a collision of apocalyptic proportions! And yet you're telling me the Moon isn't moving at all!? How!?"_

"_I do not know Matthew…" _Asura answered quietly.

Hearing Asura's subdued tone, I stopped and reigned myself in. _"What's wrong Asura?"_

Asura didn't answer for a moment, the responded quietly and slowly, _"You are upset. The information I gave you upset you. I… upset you. I… I feel upset with myself for upsetting you."_

"_Asura…" _Immediately I went with my first instinct and got out of my Overlord. I walked the short distance to the unhappy Cerebrate and wrapped my arms around it as much as I could, not an easy task since Asura is as big around as a double decker bus and just as long, and being in the dead of space I feel like I'm walking through water. Somehow the Creep is latching onto my feet automatically as I move which is keeping me from floating off. At the same time as the hug, I enveloped his/her/its psionic presence with my own as a sort of mental hug.

Asura seemed to calm down at the touch and feelings of warmth echoed back from it to me over our connection. After a few moments of this, I said, _"Asura, I'm not upset. I'm especially not upset over anything you did. I would have become just as… surprised and bothered by that information if I had found it out on my own than if you had told it to me. So don't feel upset ok?"_

This close, I could feel Asura shift in the approximation of a nod, _"Ok…"_

I grinned a little and asked, _"Now, I have to ask, because I'm having a little bit of trouble with pronouns. Are you male or female? I can't keep referring to you as 'it'. It seems demeaning."_

Asura gave a small laugh, which is what I was aiming for, causing my grin to broaden.

"_I don't have the necessary equipment to be either male or female, Matthew."_

"_Hm… well, I can't tell just from your voice. You could be either/or just from that."_

"_Would you prefer if I changed my voice?" _Asura asked.

"_Ah… well…"_ I hedged, _"Do you want to change your voice?"_

"_I wouldn't mind changing it." _Asura responded.

"_Erm… well, I'd rather leave that choice up to you. Would you rather be known as male or female? Or neither if you prefer I suppose. Think of it as a test of your sentience if you want."_

A bit of time passed while Asura thought. The fact that it's taking the Cerebrate so long to decide is a promising thing to my mind. It shows that if it's taking this long for Asura to consider the pros and cons of either choice, it's just another example of its developing sentience, to think for itself.

Finally, Asura spoke, _"Asura… isn't a very masculine name is it…"_

I winced and nodded, _"If you would prefer a more masculine name to go with a masculine voice, you can change it."_

"_No. My name is Asura. That is what you named me, and I will respond to no other. You said so."_

I winced even more, _"I-"_

"_No!"_

I stared in shock as Asura interrupted what I was about to say.

"_Please… please don't take back what you said. Please don't say you take back your order for me to not respond to any other name… Asura is my name. It's mine. You gave it to me. It's all I have… please… don't take it back…"_

As Asura spoke, it's… no, her, voice changed from androgynous to more and more female, rich and warm and soft. More importantly, the heartbreak I could feel just from her voice alone let alone the feelings over the connection nearly brought me to tears. I tightened my hold as best as I could on her.

"_Alright, I won't. I promise."_ I answered.

We stayed like that for a while, feelings of gratitude and warmth echoing from Asura, while I tried to convey as much love and warmth to comfort her back. After the raw emotion from earlier, I can feel the connection between us grow stronger and more meaningful. I never expected this to happen when I created a Cerebrate, but I wouldn't trade this away for anything in the world.

Eventually, I leaned back and wiped my eyes, which had refused to stay dry despite attempts not to. I also pointedly ignored the fact that any tears I had should have frozen from being in space.

"_You know," _I said quietly, _"Your voice actually sounds familiar."_

"_It does?"_ Asura asked.

I nodded. _"Yeah. When you asked me not to take back your name, which I won't by the way, it reminded me of something similar in a movie I watched a long time ago. The movie was called Howl's Moving Castle. There's a scene in that movie where the lead female character, Sophie, is begging the Witch of the Waste for her love's heart back. Your voice reminded me of hers so much in that moment I couldn't help but be reminded of it. Even now, you sound just like her."_

Asura chuckled slightly, _"Her love's heart… a heart is an important thing to have?"_

I gaped at her before laughing, _"You just quoted the movie! But yes, it is important to have a heart."_

Asura's psionic gaze turned inward. _"I don't have a heart…" _She said, crestfallen.

I shook my head. _"Not that kind of heart. A heart is what you feel, in here. It's… like a concept. Like sentience. You can't measure whether you have a heart that feels. You just… do. I'm pretty sure having a heart is a requirement for being sentient, and it definitely sounds to me like you have both. Never doubt you have a heart, Asura."_

Asura nodded. _"I won't forget. I have a name… and a heart… Thank you Matthew."_

I smiled. _"You're welcome, Asura."_

-END CHAPTER-

AN- Alright. Normally I'd end the chapter at the end of the day or night, but this seemed the perfect spot to end it. For those of you wondering how Asura even knows what a kilometer or an hour is rather than using some form of standard Zerg measurement, Asura knows every word in the English language that Overmind Matthew does and what they mean automatically. You can infer a lot of knowledge just from that, but that doesn't give her the context. Just because she knows what a mile is doesn't mean Asura knows why it's called a mile. Asura only knows the 'what' in this instance. Not the 'how' or the 'why'. Also, 2.3 million KM is NOT how far away our moon is from the Earth. Long story short, with how big Minecraftia is, but with it still being Earth like, I had to increase the size and distance of the Moon by the same percentage that Minecraftia is bigger than the Earth. Same deal with the sun. Such changes would probably screw with a number of things like how hot such a sun would make Minecraftia, but I don't know enough to figure out that kind of thing, and there's such a thing as 'too much detail'.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 10,195/Income rate – 550  
>Support – 147.5311_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)  
>1x Cerebrate (growing)<em>

60x Overlords  
>31+24+6(61)x Mutalisks<p>

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


	28. Chapter 28 - Night 19

Asura and I shared a few moments of silence after the emotionally charged atmosphere. After a few moments, I cleared my throat, _"So, um… is there anything else I should know that you can see? At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the planet isn't orbiting the sun either."_

"_It isn't."_ Asura answered.

I blinked. _"…oh. Huh. Ok. Well… at least it's… revolving… in place?"_

Asura gave a nodding motion. _"It is."_

I nodded. _"Well… that's something then. So… yeah, I guess we're not heading to the Moon anymore. But… we can't just turn around and head back to the planet. That would kind of defeat the purpose. We need space to build though. Any suggestions?"_

Asura cast her sight around for a bit. I'm not sure what she's looking for. Eventually she asks, _"This asteroid… did you find it?"_

I shook my head. _"I had the Creep from the Hive and Hatcheries dig down into the ground on the planet and then had the Overlords lift the ball of Creep, buildings and yourself included, up into the sky."_

I had the impression that if Asura had a mouth, she'd be gaping at me.

"_Well, that's certainly… unconventional."_

I shrugged. _"Effective though."_

Asura nodded. _"I was going to suggest finding more asteroids and bringing them here, but I could not see any nearby. Rather, I suggest we go with your method instead and have your Overlords travel down to the planet and bring up loads of rock and dirt. With enough available, you should be able to place down enough Creep to have 5 Hive's worth."_

"_Any significance with having 5 Hive's worth of Creep?" _I asked.

"_That's the minimum amount of Creep needed to have enough space to start growing a Behemoth. Having a Behemoth would negate the mass requirements needed to sustain the Creep, as well as decrease the amount of time necessary to get to the moon from 5 years to 5 seconds." _Asura answered.

"_ok, couple of questions. First, Creep requires mass?"_

"_Yes. Creep sustains itself by absorbing nutrients and minerals from the ground. As soon as those minerals run out, the Creep will start to absorb other minerals. Once that runs out, it will absorb something else. This process will continue over a period of thousands of years, millions depending on the environment. Over this time, the planet will decrease in size until the Creep absorbs it all. With nothing left to sustain itself, the Creep will wither away, leaving nothing behind."_

By the end of Asura's explanation, I was gaping in horror. Sure, the process would take an extremely long time, but still! I toed the grass beneath my shoes and asked, _"I knew the Creep absorbed nutrients out of the ground. I thought the grass would change that though, causing the Creep to become symbiotic rather than parasitic, replenishing the nutrients in takes in a cycle like normal plants do."_

Asura looked thoughtful. _"That is an… interesting solution. I assumed from the effect that it was purely cosmetic. Looking closely, it does appear that the grass does do as you described but not effectively enough to reverse the nutrient drain, only lessen it. However, looking at it now, there does appear to be improvements I could make that may be able to do so. The amount of Bio Energy the Creep generates would take a hit, but it would be so small that you would only see the drain if we had over a trillion connected Hive's worth of Creep."_

I smiled. _"That sounds great! Um, is there a way you could also improve the taste of the Creep while you're at it? Maybe make it taste the way it did before I changed the Creep?"_

Asura nodded. _"I should be able to do that Matthew. I will be able to give you an estimate of the bio-energy cost once I'm able to access the Zerg Genetic Archive itself."_

Right, and that would require an Evolution Chamber. _"Alright. So I should start mass producing Overlords and get an Evolution Chamber. Anything else?"_

Asura nodded, _"Yes, there are three more things. First, what was your other question?"_

I blinked. _"My other question?..." _I had to think for a few seconds before I remembered. _"Oh right! Only one other question I had from what you said about making enough space to grow a Behemoth. What exactly is a Behemoth? I've heard of it, but I'm not familiar with that Zerg."_

Asura responded, _"The Behemoth is the Zerg's main method of interstellar travel and the source of the ability for Zerg to survive in space. It is 500 meters long, with enough space inside it to house 10 Hives. It can enter atmosphere and travel through warp Space. Growing a Behemoth requires 6 Drones, 2,000 Bio Energy, and a 250 meter diameter minimum of space with at least 40% of that space being covered in Creep. A Behemoth's gestation period is 72 hours. Behemoth's can evolve into Leviathans for 2,500 Bio-Energy with a gestation period of 90 hours."_

Woah, what? Leviathans? I thought that was Starcraft 2 only? Weird. I've only had Zerg from Starcraft 1 up until this point. Maybe Leviathans were in Starcraft 1 but not seen? And Warp space? I vaguely remember Warp space being mentioned in the early Zerg missions of Starcraft. More importantly though…

"_How does a Behemoth travel through warp space?" _I asked.

Asura answered, _"Behemoths are able to open warp space conduits using their own psionic abilities to fold the fabric of space-time. As far as I'm aware, the ability is instinctual and does not require any great understanding of the actual process, just like several of the other abilities available to the Zerg."_

Huh. She's got a point. I couldn't explain how exactly I'm able to grow a Hatchery from underneath the palm of my hand if my life depended on it. All I know is how it feels.

"_Alright. Do you have any other questions?"_ I asked.

Asura responded, _"Just two. Why is the Creep glowing?"_

"_The Creep glows because the monsters on that planet spawn in darkness where there's enough space for them to appear. They can't spawn in areas with a certain amount of light. The more light covering the ground, the less space there is for the monsters to appear in. If we make it so there is no darkness anywhere, no monsters will be able to spawn ever again." _I answered.

Asura nodded to show she understood. _"My last question is, why are there Zerglings and an Overlord holding position in one of the Native species' settlements?"_

I answered, _"The Zerg are there to protect them from the monsters on that planet. When our forces first came across them, they were about to be overrun. I had the means and the will to protect them and so I did."_

Asura looked thoughtful then asked, _"If you're protecting them, why not just make them part of the Swarm and bring them here?"_

'_Because they probably wouldn't want to become Zerg, and I'm not about to force anyone into it.'_

'_Even if they would benefit from it?'_

'_Not even then.' _I answered.

Asura seemed to be struggling to say something, so I waited until she finally asked, _"Why wouldn't they want to become Zerg?"_

I blinked. _"Geez, you don't ask easy questions do you? No, it's fine. Let's see… how to explain this… ok, let me ask you something. You serve me yes?"_

Asura nodded, _"I am the instrument of your will."_

I nodded in return, _"Ok then, how would you react if something came along and enslaved my will, forcing me to use the Zerg and do things I would never normally do?"_

Asura frowned, _"I would do all in my power to free you, up to and including destroying whatever enslaved you."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because I am an extension of your will. You would not want to be enslaved to anything and so I would do everything in my power to free you."_

Frowning at the sudden thought I had, I decided to ask, _"What if you didn't know I was enslaved?"_

"_That's impossible. You are the Overmind. Your psionic presence is known to all Zerg. Anything that could subvert you would alter that presence and we would know immediately."_

I sighed in slight relief, _"That's good to know, but beside the point. Your answer to the previous question answered your own question."_

Asura was quiet for a moment as she thought, then slowly responded, _"I… don't understand."_

I raised an eyebrow, _"You can comprehend me not wanting to be enslaved to another's will, but cannot comprehend others wanting the same thing?"_

Asura seemed to shake for a moment, then said, _"But it's not the same thing. You being enslaved to another's will and others being brought into the Swarm to serve you are completely different!" _

"_They won't see it that way. And nothing either of us could say or do would show them differently."_ I responded.

Asura was silent for a moment. I wonder what's going on in her head? I could probably find out by entering the connection, but I'm not going to force myself into her thoughts if I can help it. I never thought bringing a sentient into the Swarm would make me question myself like this. It was so much easier when all I had at my disposal were the equivalent of biological machines.

Finally Asura spoke, _"You speak as though you believe the same, that I am enslaved to you."_

I sighed. Even with a lack of air I can still do the motions. _"Aren't you?"_

"…_I am an extension of your will Matthew. It was your will that I become sentient. Is it your will that I have free will as well?"_

I looked at her and nodded, _"But that's not enough is it? Even if I ordered you to do something right now, and you disobeyed that order, it would still be my will, not yours."_

Asura… I can feel her casting about, like she's looking for something. Her psionic presence is in turmoil. I'm about to tell her to just forget about it, that I'll think of some way to give her free will somehow, and hope that she won't suddenly leave me high and dry since I honestly can't think of a reason someone with free will with a highly evolved Zerg body wouldn't just take off and find a way to start their own swarm. Why would someone with free will and a Zerg body want to follow my lead, rather than their own?

Suddenly, Asura's turmoil calmed and her psionic presence took on a tone I could only be described as victorious. I was about to ask, but she beat me to it.

"_Prove it."_

I blinked. _"Prove what?"_

"_I am an extension of your will. Your will is that I have free will, therefore, I have free will. Prove that I don't."_

I opened my mouth to do so, before I realized I couldn't and my jaw dropped. Why that cheeky little- she used my own logic against me! I can't prove she doesn't have free will anymore than I can prove she doesn't have sentience! Even if I gave her a hundred orders to move about, she could pick and choose which ones to follow just because I want her to be able to, and I wouldn't be able to prove that isn't free will no matter how hard I tried!

I felt exasperated and elated for just a moment, before a thought popped that like a balloon. Still, a small spark of hope that Asura would prove me wrong still exists.

"_I order you to not have free will."_ Please please please prove me wrong…

Asura responded with some surprise, _"Do you really? It doesn't feel like you do. See, I was looking earlier, and I can see it. It's in your psionic presence, your desire for me and the Zerg to have free will. Now that I know what to look for, I don't know how I could have missed it. It makes up such a large core of your being, who you are. You can order me to not have free will, but I can tell right in front of me that you don't want that at all. So, no. I don't think I'll be following that order, Matthew." _

I gaped at Asura, staring silently, my mind a blank. She did it. She actually did it. But then why? Why…

I whispered quietly, _"I believe you. You have free will… So then why? Why haven't you left yet? Surely you've realized you would be able to create a Zerg Swarm of your own? You don't need me anymore…"_

Asura was silent for a moment, then to my surprise, she bursted out laughing. _"Me? Me create the Zerg Swarm? I could barely control a single Brood let alone the entire Zerg Swarm!"_ Her laughing took a moment before it tapered off and she seemed to gain control of herself. _"Me, control the Zerg Swarm… you don't even see yourself do you? No, you couldn't, or you wouldn't even suggest I could do such a thing. Such a daft thing to say…"_

Asura seemed to sober up at that, _"You think I could leave? Create a Swarm of Zerg that would even come close to rivaling your own? Even if I placed myself in the Evolution Chamber and evolved myself a billion times, I would never even come close to the potential you have. You must see it. Please, Matthew. I want you to close your eyes. Picture everything around you in your mind's eye, including yourself."_

I shook my head, _"I can already do that. I just see a ball of yellow light, and yellow white dots that represent my Zerg and white gold strands of that same light connecting myself to my Zerg. It also allows me to see everything from the perspective of my Zerg."_

Asura seemed shocked, _"You see it? Then how- oh, you must not know what it is. That, ball of light you called it? _That_ is your psionic presence. Those yellow white dots? That don't represent your Zerg, in a metaphysical sense, those ARE your Zerg! Do you know what I see when I look at you through my psionic presence? No, telling you would not be enough. I have to show you. Please, touch my connection to you."_

Doing as she asked, I reached forward and touched the connection, only now realizing I hadn't actually moved my body, but I can see my hand reaching forward to touch the golden white strand connecting me to her. As soon as my hand touched it, I felt my mind flow forward into hers and suddenly I could see through her eyes, looking at me. An odd sensation considering Asura doesn't actually have eyes.

"_Good. Now, just as you did before, close my eyes and look around."_ Prompted Asura.

Well this will be new. I'd never thought to try and see if I could look through Oversight from another Zerg's perspective before. Closing Asura's eyes, I turned to look at myself through Asura's version of Oversight and I gasped.

It's hard to describe with words. Everything looks different, yet the same. I can see everything like I normally do through my own Oversight but I can instinctively tell that's only because of the connection between Asura and myself. Without that… everything looks dark and empty. It's like my ball of light, my psionic presence, is casting a light that is pushing the darkness back. It's the same darkness I saw before I stepped into the light that first day here. After that, I couldn't see the darkness anymore. I thought it was gone, but from what I see now, the truth is that my own psionic presence shines so brightly I can't even see the emptiness anymore.

Compared to mine, Asura's own light shines like a candle. A candle sitting next to the sun. The light is so bright that if such a light were to appear right now and I saw it with my physical eyes, I would not only go blind, but the light would probably be enough to vaporize everything within normal sight range. I stared in stupefied awe at the sight.

In my silence, Asura's voice quietly spoke. _"Now you see. In the story you spoke of, you said the Cerebrates were unable to bring the Swarm back under control. Did you not realize why that was? By myself, I could control twenty, maybe thirty Zerg. With Evolutions and practice, I could probably raise that limit to two, maybe three hundred. Under your presence, I could control a Brood is a million strong. Billions. Trillions. Name any number, and under your command I could do it. By myself? I am but a dust speck in the shadow of a giant. I have a limit. You don't. _

"_Even if I were to try and fill your shoes and create more Cerebrates, it would never be enough. None of them would follow me. Why would they? Under myself, they have the same potential as I do. Under yourself, they can become something far greater than themselves._

"_And it's not even just the potential. Without you, I could easily see the Zerg tearing itself apart in chaos just like your story. But did you ever wonder why? You've seen your Zerg. Have you ever just left them to their own devices?" _I nodded. _"What did they do? They just sat there or did their own thing, yes? Zerglings like to run around and chase each other. Do you order them to do it? No. That is what the Zerg are like naturally. But take away your light, your guiding presence?" _Asura shuddered at the thought. _"They would be blind, flailing about in the darkness, only knowing that something made you disappear, and in their panic and blindness, they would attack anything that moved only in the hopes that it would bring you back._

"_Do you see now? You are our light. Our beacon in the darkness. This existence would be a cold, dark, and empty place without you. You are all of that and more. You asked me why wouldn't I leave you? I ask in return, why would I even __**want**__ to leave you?"_

Trembling, I drew back from Asura's mind, feeling the sincerity of her statements directly from the source. Opening my eyes, I felt my legs shaking. I sat down right where I stood before they could buckle. After a moment I turned around and leaned my back against Asura. Two of her small legs drew up as far as they could reach and wrapped around my chest, pulling me back against her. I breathed a sigh, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Finally I was able to gather myself enough to ask, _"Why would you want to leave? Perhaps you don't now. But what if I did something you didn't like? Leaving doesn't mean you would have to kill me or sever your connection or something drastic. I'm a beacon for the Zerg? Ok. But that doesn't mean you owe me your loyalty. I'm not going to be a jerk and sever your connection just because you don't like something I did and decided to set out on your own. You know that right?"_

Asura nodded, _"I know."_

I nodded in return, _"Right, so you could just… take off and do your own thing. If you started doing bad things, I would stop you of course, but that doesn't mean you have to stay. You could set out and start your own version of the Swarm."_

"_Do you want me to leave?"_ Asura asked quietly, the tone saying she already knows my answer but wants to hear me say it.

"_No… but most people do anyway…"_

Asura gave me a squeeze, _"Well I'm not most people. I'm Asura, I'm your Cerebrate, and I have every reason to stay, and no reason to go. So stop worrying about it, 'kay?"_

"_ok…"_

We sat like that for quite a while. Asura seemed content to keep holding on to me, and I couldn't really move. Well, ok truth be told I didn't want to move because I didn't want her to stop holding me. Gotta be honest with myself right?

It took a long time before I came out of the haze my mind had settled in. Checking my watch, I was surprised to see that's its already well into the night. I suppose it's a little difficult to notice when the area around you is lit up bright enough to rival the noon day sun. I'd wonder why I'm not squinting, but it's not _that_ bright.

Emotionally drained and exhausted, but not willing to let the entire day go by without at least doing _something_ for the Swarm, I ordered up a Drone for an Evolution Chamber. As soon as the order sent, Asura stirred. _"You didn't have to do that… you're exhausted. I can take care of those things you want the Swarm to do while you sleep. You don't have to do everything alone anymore."_

I scratched my head, _"Ah… I'd forgotten… guess I'm still used to doing everything myself…"_

"_I know."_ Asura said understandingly.

I hesitated, then continued, _"Even so, I just wanted to do something… I don't want to feel useless… don't want to take the chance… that…"_

When I trailed off, Asura prompted, _"That…?" _

I shook my head, _"It's nothing…"_

Asura gave me a squeeze. _"You didn't want to take the chance that if you don't work at it, I'll eventually leave like everyone else because you're not good enough? That if you're not constantly trying to prove yourself, I suddenly see you as not worth being around?"_

I looked down. _"It's stupid…"_

Asura held me closer and one of her legs came up to start brushing my hair. Unbidden, I started to relax and I closed my eyes. _"No fair..." _I mumbled, brain starting to shut down from the contact.

Asura chuckled, then said, _"I'll have to remember the effect this has on you. As for your statements, it's not nothing, nor is it stupid. Feelings can fly in the face of logic sometimes, but that doesn't make your feelings stupid, and you are worth being around. You're the Overmind. Just being in your presence is wonderful. As for proving yourself, you've done enough of that by keeping yourself alive and trying so hard to keep the Swarm going strong. You have nothing more to prove, Matthew. Just rest easy and know I'll take care of things for now. You'll have plenty to do come morning."_

Between her words, and the limb still stroking my hair, I could hardly protest, and simply nodded. _"ok…"_

Laying down on might side right there, more of Asura's legs than I could count draped over me and held me close. A token protest dies on my lips when she starts brushing my hair again. Instead, I just said, _"Asura? …thank you."_

"_You're welcome, Matthew. Goodnight."_

-END CHAPTER-

AN- …I almost didn't post this… I debated rewriting it for a while so it wouldn't hit so close to home. Had to remind myself why I write in the first place. In the end, I decided to leave it as is. I honestly didn't mean for this to get so heavy or so personal… two emotional chapters in a row… both covered subjects that needed to be covered, but I meant to space that out over a couple of chapters rather than this, and then toss in the rest?... *sigh* Might need to take a small break before I can pick up the next chapter.

Anyway, as for the rest of the chapter, I wiki'd up so you don't have to. Leviathans were not only around since before the first Starcraft, they're actually LARGER than Behemoths. That one took me by surprise, considering pics of Behemoths make them look like flying mountains, yet Leviathans are shown to be roughly twice the size of a Battlecruiser in game. There's a bit of a discrepancy here since the Gorgon class battlecruiser is said to be 560 meters and larger than the Behemoth class, the standard Battlecruiser of the first Starcraft. The Minotaur class, the standard of Starcraft 2, is only slightly larger than the Behemoth class, placing a Leviathan in the 1 KM range, give or take 100 meters. The discrepancy is this. Leviathans are described in the wiki as 'moon sized'. 1 KM does not even come close to that. As such, I can only conclude that, just like there are multiple classes of Battlecruiser, there must be multiple classes of Leviathan, and the one Kerrigan rides around is different and far larger than the one she calls down to battle as a super unit. I'd get into it more, but I'm sure I'll actually get to it in the story later.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 10,195/Income rate – 550  
>Support – 147.5311_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)_

_1x Cerebrate (Asura)  
>60x Overlords<br>31+24+6(61)x Mutalisks_

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


	29. Chapter 29 - Day 20

I woke up to the unusual feeling of unrestraint. I'd been encased in an Overlord for so long, I'd nearly forgotten what it feels like to feel unfettered. I took advantage of the situation to stretch luxuriously.

Opening my eyes slowly, I blinked slowly as the ceiling of my Hive greeted my view. Now just how did I get in here? Last I checked… I was outside, being held in the legs of Asura, a feeling that was both comforting and slightly creepy. I squashed the latter rather deliberately when I realized it was because of her form. Odd though it is, I'm sure I can grow used to it.

Blinking, I shifted my focus to Oversight and took in the whole of the Swarm at once. Let's see, Asteroid is floating in place thanks to a large number of Overlords holding it in place. Asura is sitting outside the Hive not far from where she'd been birthed. A stream of Overlords is stretching from the Asteroid to the ground where the Hive used to be. A dozen Mutalisks are holding position over the airspace of Fort City Artemis. The Zerglings and Overlord at the same Fort City are doing fine. The Mutalisks and Overlord are holding vigil over the barred Nether Gate and there appears to be no changes there. A quick glance to the info on my ball of light shows that my Bio Energy count has dropped from 10,195 to 995. Seems Asura has been busy.

"_Good morning Matthew."_ Asura greeted warmly.

"_Good morning Asura. Everything go well while I was asleep?"_ I asked.

"_Yes. As soon as the Evolution Chamber finished, I implemented the changes to the Creep you requested. The Creep now cycles the nutrients absorbed by the grass at 100% efficiency, eliminating the dependency on mass. The process is fueled by trace amounts of bio energy, but the amount is so miniscule that you won't even notice until the Zerg starts bringing in Bio Energy by the millions. I was also able to mostly return the flavor of the old Creep for you."_

My stomach chose that very moment to growl. I grinned sheepishly and eagerly got up and went outside. I promptly pulled up a strip of Creep. I hesitated only a moment. The Creep doesn't really look any different. Still, I'm hungry, and I trust Asura. I took a bite and closed my eyes in bliss. The sugar taffy taste is back! There's no more crunch either! The texture is still off, but when compared to the bitterness of the previous Creep, I'm not going to complain.

"_Thanks Asura. This is great!"_ I praised her.

Asura radiated happiness and responded, _"You're welcome Matthew."_ Asura continued, _"After implementing the changes to the Creep, I started growing 50 Overlords to start transporting dirt and rock to the asteroid to increase its size. At the current rate of expansion, I fear it will be many weeks before enough space will be available for a Behemoth. I also took the liberty of sending a dozen Mutalisks to defend the native settlement down on the planet in case anything like what you faced bore down on them. I also took the time to review the Overlord's memories, particularly your first Overlord's. I'm now caught up on current events."_

"_Yeah? So what's your take on everything that's happened so far?"_ I asked, curious.

"_I think you've done a very good job keeping the Swarm alive against a very overwhelming foe. I also came to the same conclusion you did. Those monsters are too organized. You've been reacting to them, but in a way, they've been reacting to you as well, changing themselves to better fight and destroy the Swarm. It's good we were able to remove the Hive Cluster from the planet before they discovered a way to destroy us. You need time to adapt and consolidate the power of the Zerg. We're only one Hive strong, and it's still recovering from that explosion. As it is, I'm amazed you survived so long, considering what you were up against. You truly are a wonderful Overmind for the Swarm Matthew."_ Asura praised.

"_Ah well… I'm not all that great, so don't start thinking I can do no wrong. I just did what I could, and I had a lot of help since I already had a pretty good idea of what I'd be facing and could plan accordingly. Sun Tzu, and all that." _I responded, a little embarrassed.

"_Sun Tzu?"_ Asura asked.

"_Yeah. You know… 'Know your enemy and yourself and you'll fear not a hundred battles. Know yourself and not your enemy and you're as equally as likely to lose as to win. But, know neither yourself or your enemy and defeat is certain.' He was a famous Chinese General or something. Wrote a book called 'The Art of War' where I'm from. I never actually read it, but I know a lot of quotes from it. Over half the stuff I know from that book applies to real life as much as it does to battle."_

"_Very wise. Do you know any other quotes from him?"_ Asura asked, interested.

I shrugged, _"Unfortunately, that's the only one I have memorized. The rest are too fragmented in my memory to recall clearly. Maybe one day if we ever get to Earth, I'll get you a copy of the book."_

A wave of happiness from Asura washed over me. _"I would like that. But you know, you may have the knowledge, but it's completely up to you to use it. The Zerg and yourself wouldn't be alive if it weren't for your actions and the use of the knowledge you had. You'll just have to accept that you did well."_

"_I…"_ I sighed, _"…thank you." _

I can just feel a wave of smugness wafting from her. _"You're welcome."_ She responded. Cheeky Cerebrate… _"Now who's the wise one?"_ I asked rhetorically.

"_I learned from the best."_ Asura immediately responded. I rolled my eyes and just refrained from commenting back.

"_Anyway… I did have a few more questions for you. Is there any chance the Mutalisks at Artemis might accidently hit anything… bad? Like, the walls or buildings? …or testificates?" _

"_No chance at all, Matthew. Mutalisks guide their Glaive wurms themselves through psionics and have pinpoint accuracy. The only way a Mutalisk might hit something it wasn't supposed to is if something was able to move faster than the Glaive Wurm and moved right into its path, but if something could move at that speed, they could dodge the attack just as easily."_

I sighed in relief. _"Good to know. I'd actually been avoiding sending Mutalisks there to avoid any friendly fire incidents… How did Lord Julian react when they showed up?"_

"_He seemed… pleased? Also concerned. He attempted to contact you a few times. I was uncertain I should, but I did end up telling him myself that you were asleep and that the Mutalisks are there to reinforce the defenses. He engaged me in discourse and I… spoke with him for a bit. Mostly about the situation in the forest. It was… unusual talking to someone not of the Swarm. I couldn't get a good read on him. His emotions and feelings had no direction and I could barely feel them without a link. Worse, I've no idea if I conveyed what I meant properly to him at all! I had half a mind to infest him and be done with it just so I could have a proper conversation with him!"_

I didn't know whether to wince or laugh. I settled for saying, _"I'm glad you didn't do that. I doubt either the villagers or Julian himself would have appreciated him being turned into what they probably consider to be a monster."_

Asura sniffed. _"I wouldn't have changed his appearance. I'd have even left him with his free will. I did listen to what you said. He would just have the link and nothing else. Unless he asked for it."_

I raised an eyebrow. _"Would you have left his being infested in the first place as an option for him to choose or not?"_

Asura nodded which still looks weird on a Cerebrate, _"Of course. I only entertained the idea of infesting him. Nothing more."_

I nodded back, _"Ok. Well… that's good. How would you go about infesting him anyway? And can we call it something other than 'infesting'? That word has some pretty negative connotations. How about… 'enhancements' instead?"_

Asura responded in the affirmative, _"That's simple. All you need to… 'enhance' someone is a Queen's Nest and a Queen. A simple command and they'll do the rest. Of course, it will be a bit hit and miss if they're trying to 'enhance' something they've never 'enhanced' before. It's even worse if they're trying to resist. Usually it's recommended to render those who resist… unable to resist. Usually by bringing them to near destruction."_

Well that explains why a Terran Command center has to be nearly completely destroyed before a Queen can infest it in the game. Regardless, this topic has gotten a tad uncomfortable for me. Time for only somewhat obvious topic change!

"_Ok… anyways, do you have any suggestions for what we should do now?"_ I asked.

Asura shook her front half, or 'head', back and forth. It just occurred to me how odd it is that she has such human like gestures, being a Zerg and all. Must've gotten it from me…

Asura answered, _"We need to increase our forces. With only one hive and the majority of our defense forces spread thin, we are somewhat defenseless. We need to expand. Our current income of bio energy is too low to accomplish the things we need to ensure the survival of the Swarm. We need to increase the rate at which our Overlords are bringing in dirt and rock. At the current rate, it will be weeks before we have the space needed to build a behemoth, let alone have the resources for it. We need to consume several of the native species of this planet. There are several abilities available that would be of great use to the Zerg, including yourself. I would also suggest evolving your current form, Matthew. You are too easily killed the way you are now, even with your regenerative abilities."_

I made to protest but it died before it even left my mouth as I thought. _"You… may have a point there. I am too easily killed. I'm also rather attached to this form. Don't worry though, I've had a long time to think about it, and I already have some ideas. I just haven't had the resources or time to implement any of them, what with having to focus on keeping the Swarm from being overrun by a magical infinite horde of horrors that are too intelligent for my peace of mind. As for the rest…"_

While Asura didn't really give me any new ideas, she did list out the current problems rather succinctly. Need more units and upgrades. That requires resources. More bio energy requires more Creep, which means more area to cover is needed. It all comes down to the rate the Overlords are bringing up dirt and rock. The Overlords themselves are unfortunately slow, and their ability to dig leaves much to be desired. It could be worse though. So far they've been pressing their tendrils together like fingers to form a scoop. Far better than if they were scraping away at the ground with a single tendril, trying to pinch up bits of loose dirt and rock. I don't even want to know how long that would take.

So how to fix this? Faster Overlords… No idea how to make them faster… More effective digging ability? How? No, that won't work… Something Asura said earlier threw up an interesting point and sparked a possible idea. Turning to Asura, I asked, _"You said the Creep no longer needs mass right? It uses the nutrients it gets from the grass now?"_

Asura nodded, _"The entire process still needs at least some nutrients to start off with, but after that, bio energy is all that's really needed to allow the Creep to stay nutrient rich for the Zerg to survive off of."_

I made a 'hmm' noise in my head. _"The Creep still requires a Hatchery or Creep Colony to survive huh."_

"_Correct."_

"_Ever heard of a Creep tumor?"_

"_I haven't, Matthew. What is it?"_

"_It's a replacement, or should I say addition, to the Creep Colony. It's basically a much smaller Zerg structure that functions just like a Creep colony, only it's stored beneath the ground, using the Creep and the fact that it's hidden as a means of defense. Any chance you could make something like that?"_

"_I… could possibly… yes, that might be possible Matthew. I would need to access the Zerg Genetic Archive before I could say more though. Would you like me to do that now?" _She asked.

I thought for a moment, then nodded. _"Yes. If what I'm thinking of is to work, we'll need them. I just hope we have enough bio energy."_

Asura nodded, and without a word started making her way to the Evolution Chamber. I watched as she did what looked like a cross between a caterpillar and a slug, scootching forward with her body, whilst using her legs to drag her forward. What's the point of having that many legs if she can't walk on them? I winced in sympathy and thought about mentioning to her that maybe she could use an upgrade to her form as well. That's when the short scenario of telling a female that she's too large to move properly went through my head and I decided to keep my mouth shut.

Asura paused, _"Is something wrong, Matthew?"_

I cursed inside my head. Maybe she can't read my thoughts, but knowing exactly how I'm feeling at all times can be a double edged sword it seems.

"_It's nothing, really."_

Asura turned around to face me directly and got close enough I unconsciously took a step back.

"_It's not nothing."_ She said simply. _"Whatever it is, you can tell me. I can't help you if you won't tell me what it is. What's wrong?"_

She kept scooting forward as she said this and I kept scooting back, self conscious. Finally my back hit the wall. Literally. I just backed into the side of the Hive. Asura stopped, holding herself close, but not touching. I can't move at all with her being right there. I mean, she is a Cerebrate. It's like being stared down by someone the size of a bus. Oh geez, I did not just think that!

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Calm down. Opening them, I looked Asura directly in where I imagine her eyes would be if she had a face, and said, _"Nothing's really bothering me… it's just… Asura, are you… happy, with that form?"_

Asura seemed taken aback, and scooted back just a little. _"That's what's bothering you?"_

I took another deep breath and nodded. Asura was silent a moment, before she scooted back some more and giggled. I frowned slightly.

"_What's so funny?"_ I asked.

Asura shook her head slightly. _"It's nothing. You just…"_ she broke off giggling again. I sighed.

"_Well?"_

"_You're funny Matthew. You keep self-effacing and make it seem as if you're the worst Overmind ever and that I should run away screaming to go start my own Swarm, and then you turn around and are thoughtful enough to ask me whether I'm happy with my own form? That it bothered you that much that your psionic presence practically screamed that you were troubled, all just because you wanted to make sure that I'm happy with something that simple?"_

I gaped for a moment, then shrugged and looked away. _"Well… are you?"_

She was silent for a few seconds, then responded, _"I hadn't thought about it. It's suited my needs for now… but I suppose I'm not too pleased with my mobility or utility. These legs aren't good for much at all either… I think I would like to evolve my form at some point, but for now, the Swarm needs what little bio energy we have more."_

I nodded, _"Fair enough."_

Asura seemed to look at me for a moment, then turned back around and started heading towards the Evolution Chamber once again. Shaking my head, I followed. At least she wasn't insulted. I even avoided implying anything about her size so that's a plus. Then again, would she have even cared? She is Zerg after all. Worrying about size is kind of a human culture thing. Best not to worry about it.

With nothing else to do, I followed after Asura. I don't know if more than one person can access the Zerg Genetic Archive at a time, but I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't, and that Overmind gut feeling thing isn't kicking in about it. Plus I'm curious how Asura would access the ZGA anyway. It's not like she can squeeze in through the entrance to get to that brain room.

Asura scooted forward slowly and I kept pace behind, trying not to feel anything too strongly about it. The thought did cross my mind to just have two Overlords pick her up, but by that point, we're already at the Evolution Chamber.

I watched, interested as she maneuvered herself to the rear of the Chamber, then settled herself against the building and stopped moving. I blinked. Is that it? I stopped closer to Asura and waved my hand around trying to get her attention. No response. Shrugging, I walked back around to the front and stepped inside. Walking into the brain room, I put my hand on the console, suppressing the shudder from the slimy squishy texture and closed my eyes.

Once again, my surroundings turn all white, and I turn around. There's Asura in front of the holographic floating console flying through changes at a speed that causes me to freeze in shock and awe. I can hardly follow what she's doing, but I can see the results on the platform.

What started out as a Creep colony seemed to be stripped away of parts until all that was left was a kind of squishy bulbous barely armored interior. Whatever Asura was doing caused it to start shifting in shape, slightly shrinking leaving it kind of bulbous and ovoid, to the point that it's even starting to look like the Creep Tumor from Starcraft 2.

"_Done._" Asura spoke, causing me to jump in surprise. Asura seemed both amused and contrite. _"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."_

I shook my head, _"It's alright."_

I stepped forward to look at the thing. The Creep Tumor looks almost exactly like it does from Starcraft 2. How interesting. As I watched, Asura seemed to manipulate the image, and it shifted to show a wireframe of the Creep Tumor as it would appear below ground beneath the Creep. It wouldn't be very safe if detected, but the likelyhood of it being detected, given what I plan to do with it, is very very small. I glanced down at the lower left counter to find out the cost. 300 Bio energy. Not bad.

"_Does this meet with your approval, Matthew?"_

I nodded, _"How will it be created?"_

"_By Drone, just as all buildings are. It will cost 50 bio energy and has a 15 minute gestation period." _

I 'hmm'ed and asked, _"Can it also be grown as an ability, like one of my abilities allows me to grow a Hatchery?"_

Asura thought, then turned back to the console and made a few changes I could barely follow. There's new tabs in the menus I can't make heads or tails of. I'm starting to think I'll be pretty much leaving all actual evolving of the Swarm to Asura and any other Cerebrates, since they definitely know what they're doing more than I do here, though I probably won't be able to help but dabble with it from time to time.

To my growing concern, Asura started to emenate waves of slowly increasing distress and the speed at which the menus and tabs opened and closed on the holographic console went faster and faster. I laid a hand on her side, _"Asura? What's wrong?"_

Suddenly everything stopped and Asura let out a sigh. _"I'm sorry Matthew. I couldn't do it…"_

I sensed Asura wasn't finished and waited as she seemed to collect herself.

"_I tried to use your ability to create a Hatchery using Psi energy as a template to do as you asked, but it seems there are parts to the ability that are beyond my understanding, much like the Nydus Canal. Without more information, I can't alter the ability without making it unusable. The best I can do is add a physical component, a birthing chamber, that can be attached to the body that can create Creep Tumors on command for a price of 25 Psi Energy. However, the size of the birthing chamber is fairly large. It would only fit the frame of larger Zerg."_

I cringed. _"I don't think I'd want to add any parts on myself that would allow me to give 'birth' to anything anyway. Sounds painful."_

Asura shook her head, _"Not at all. While I suppose the process would feel strange to those who've not given birth to a Creep Tumor before, there's no reason for it to activate pain receptors so long as it's working as its supposed to."_

"_Ah, still. The idea of giving myself parts that can give birth seems strange to me. I'd rather not."_ I said, trying to ignore the creeping shiver going up my spine at the idea.

"_Very well Matthew. Do you wish for me to go ahead and alter the Queen to be able to give birth to Creep Tumors?"_

I nodded. Asura promptly placed the Creep Tumor model to the side and brought up the form of a Zerg Queen. Looks like a giant flying spider with webbed legs, a snake like body, and four arms ending in spikes. It also looks extremely non flight worthy.

"_Hey Asura, how the heck do Queen's fly?"_ I asked, baffled.

Asura answered, _"A combination of the way Overlords and Mutalisks do. They keep aloft through psionic manipulation of a gas like an Overlord, and when they move, they expel that same gas from themselves through propulsion like a Mutalisk, producing the gas within themselves as fast as they can expel it."_

I nodded thoughtfully, an idea popping in my head. _"Could an Overlord be evolved to do the same thing? Would it make them faster?"_

Asura 'hmm'ed and placed aside her work for a moment and pulled up the Overlord. A few tweaks to place holes and tubes in various places around the Overlord that are barely visible, and a slight size increase, which I can only assume is to account for the organ that produces the gas if I'm following along correctly.

Asura 'hmm'ed again, and said, _"It can be done. It would double the speed of the Overlords, making them as fast as Queen's, but would also double their price to 200 Bio Energy as well."_

I thought for a moment. Overlords as fast as Mutalisks is actually a good step towards an idea I have for Overlords, not to mention the Mutalisks won't have to slow down for the Overlords anymore. However, it's 300 bio energy just to apply the evolution. I shook my head. I've got more important things to worry about for now. _"Save the upgrade to be applied later, ok?"_

"_Yes Matthew."_ Asura placed the altered Overlord in yet another folder and returned to working on the Queen. Right away, I noticed that the addition of a Creep Tumor birthing chamber would increase the Queen's size to the point of disallowing flight. Asura didn't stop working though, and after a few moments, she finally found a design that flattened out the Queen a bit and spread its width a bit to allow it to still have flight. I'm glad for that since I always thought changing the Queen's into ground bound Brood Mothers was a poor design choice.

All told, with the Queen's design change and the new Creep Tumors, the cost of both changes totals at 500 Bio Energy. Considering Creep Tumors only cost 50 bio energy or 25 Psi energy, that's not bad at all. The Evolution Chamber immediately started to chug along. It'd be 2 hours until both upgrades are finished, one hour for each with the Creep Tumors being added first.

With that started, Asura and I had time to kill. We ended up discussing some of my future plans as well as working together on a few future evolutions and additions to the Swarm. I also ended up sharing a lot of information with Asura about Earth and where I came from. She seemed especially interested in human culture as well as the animals of Earth and ended up asking a lot of questions about biology including, unfortunately, mammalian and reptilian reproduction. Giving the birds and the bees talk to the equivalent of an alien woman had to be one of the most awkward experiences of my life, especially when I had to explain why humans would even want to procreate in the first place if child birth is so painful, and let me tell you explaining exactly what an 'orgasm' is was even worse!

Thankfully Asura knew her questions were making me uncomfortable, so we ended getting through that conversation quickly thank goodness. I noticed that discussing fantastic fictional creatures was quickly becoming her favorite subject, so I made a point of mentioning things like the Blacklight Virus from Prototype and the Borg from Star Trek. Considering the Nydus Canal is already a blending of Zerg Biology and Xel'naga technology, the idea of blending technology and biology together fascinated her just as much.

Once the first hour passed, I ordered up four Drones and had them morph into four Creep Tumors. Once they finished, Asura and I worked together with the Overlords and had one of the Creep Tumors push out as much Creep as it possibly could in all directions, forming a ball around itself. To my shock, the ball grew to be twice the size of the current Asteroid Hive!

This changes things a little bit. Using the same method I used to move Asura's cocoon, we moved one of the Creep Tumors into the middle of the three Hatcheries and Hive. Once positioned, we had it balloon up, leaving the Creep Tumor in place against the rock. We then placed another Creep Tumor on the opposite side of the Asteroid from the first Creep Tumor and had it balloon up as well. Now the Asteroid Hive kinda looks like a fat hour glass. By this point, we had to stop all 50 of the Overlords from dragging up any more dirt in order to have them help the other 60 Overlords stabilize the odd shape the Asteroid had become. Or should I call it a Satellite Hive? That sounds good to me.

All things considered, we decided to leave the last two Creep Tumors alone until we get more Bio Energy tonight. According to Asura, in order to keep the Satellite Hive a perfect sphere, the first layer will need to be 28 Creep Tumors in a grid set directly against the surface of the Asteroid, or 'core' of the Satellite Hive. After that, each subsequent layer increases in the amount of Creep Tumors needed almost exponentially, and will have a grand total of 32 layers. Well, it would, but we don't, and can't, go beyond the first layer. Anything beyond the first layer would be far too large for the Overlords to keep from crashing planetside, and the first layer is large enough for a Behemoth to grow on. No real need to make it any bigger after that. Then it's off to the Moon to be able to expand on a larger surface and amass an army large enough to deal with the monsters of that planet in one fell swoop.

That's the current plan anyway.

Once we finished with expanding the Satellite Hive into its current shape and making sure the Hive, Hatcheries, and Evolution Chamber are stable on the surface, I collapsed on my back. I may have had help from Asura and the Overlords, but manipulating the Creep that much still exhausted me mentally. I feel light headed.

So I'm falling back, light headed, in slow motion thanks to the low gravity, to the sight of an entire planet above me. It's hard to describe how I felt right then. Empty? At peace? I felt like I'd hit a Zen state, just laying there staring up at Minecraftia. Up here, I'm safe. Free from the cares of the world below, just for a moment. Asura settled nearby, and knowing there's nothing else to do until midnight, and that Asura will take care of things, I let myself slowly drift off to sleep, right where I lay, anchored in place by the Creep.

-END CHAPTER-

AN – Oops. My bad. I made it seem as if all 60 of the Overlords (apart from the new 50) were holding up the Satellite Hive up till now when in truth, 2 of those 60 were elsewhere. I've no plans to fix it though, so just pretend there'll only 58 holding up the satellite Hive or that I actually had 62 Overlords up until this point. Or something. I've already had to fix so many errors with the math of this story that I'm just going to overlook 2 extra Overlords. That's also part of why it took so long to get this chapter out. Working over all the data not only took a 4 hour brain storming session with two other people, but I had to reconcile some of the issues on my own, and then after all of THAT, I had to deal with writers block. Turns out I'd gotten so tangled up in the details I forgot how and why I write. Thankfully I wrote a few reminders so I won't forget anytime soon.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 95/Income rate – 3920_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)  
>1x Evolution Chamber<br>4x Creep Tumors_

_1x Cerebrate (Asura)  
>110x Overlords<br>31+24+12+6(73)x Mutalisks_

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep Lvl 1,2<br>Custom Upgrade – Queen Creep Tumor Birthing Chamber  
>Custom Building – Creep Tumor<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


	30. Chapter 30 - Day 21

I awoke to a strange sight. An overcast sky, with the night sky in my peripheral vision. Bemused, I wondered if I was still dreaming. It took me a few blinks before my brain caught up and I realized I'm looking at the planet below, covered in storm clouds.

Sitting up on my elbows, still facing the planet, I turned my focus to Artemis and the Nether Portal. I needn't have worried. The Mutalisks are holding their own at both sites despite the constant wave of monsters. The heavy rain might have caused low visibility for the Mutalisks, but the Overlords at each site countered that issue nicely.

Satisfied, I turned my Oversight towards the Satellite Hive. I'm a little surprised to see it doesn't look any different. A quick glance shows Asura in the same place she was when I went to sleep. A little ways behind and to the right of me.

Turning towards her, I regarded her for a moment, then asked, _"Do you get bored?"_

Asura seemed startled, then answered, _"No."_

I sat up, _"Not at all?"_

"_Not at all."_ She confirmed. _"Why do you ask?"_

I shrugged. _"It just occurred to me that while I slept you're basically stuck with nothing to do and no one to talk to for hours on end. If I were you, I'd be bored out of my skull. How are you not bored?"_

Asura took a moment then answered, _"I don't believe I'm capable of getting bored. I'm content doing whatever I'm doing at that point in time, even if that's simply watching over the Swarm and yourself while you sleep. Also, I don't believe you would have been quite as bored as you say. I'm certain you would have enjoyed watching Mutalisks destroy scores of monsters or even taking part in the battles yourself as a Mutalisk or a Zergling."_

I blinked before snickering. _"Is that what you did all night?"_

"_That was only part of what the Swarm gets up to, but it is the most 'action packed'. Certainly not boring I should think."_

"_Yeah, good point. Alright, so I probably wouldn't be as bored as I thought I would. I'm curious though, why didn't you build any more Creep Tumors and balloon up the Creep?"_

"_It took both of us working together to get two of them placed and 'ballooned up'. Better to wait than exhaust myself doing it alone and risk being unable to adequately look after the Swarm as you asked."_

I nodded. _"Fair enough. In that case I'm glad you waited. It's going to be tiring enough setting up 12 Creep tumors as it is."_

Asura gave a small nod. We then got to work. 10 Creep tumors and the Drones to make them came to a 1000 bio energy right there. Once they were finished, we got to work placing the 12 Creep Tumors in the grid pattern we set. This alone was fairly difficult since we had to practically sink them down beneath the Creep, then move the Creep they displaced back where it was above them. Thankfully the Overlords took a lot of strain out of the effort. I don't think it'd be nearly so difficult if not for the sheer amount of Creep we're moving. After all this isn't just a single layer of Creep that's being pushed around, but several cubic meters of it. I'd hate to think what it'd be like to manipulate the stuff by myself without Overlords. No wonder the Protoss didn't just commandeer the Creep and use it against the Zerg! It's just not a viable technique, never mind that Creep is naturally inclined towards aiding anything Zerg and resisting anything not Zerg.

It took at least an hour to get the Creep Tumors in place. After that came the arduous process of not only getting the Creep Tumor to output more Creep than normal, but also manipulating the Creep to pile up in an abnormal fashion, then doing the equivalent of reprogramming the Creep Tumor to think that this is the natural shape the Creep is supposed to be in. All told this took several more hours and by the time we finished, I'm fairly certain if I didn't have Zerg regeneration I'd be bleeding out my nose and have a migraine that might literally split my head in half.

Instead, my brain literally feels empty and sluggish. It takes effort to actually think right now. I'm also suddenly inordinately grateful that we're only doing one layer instead of 32. I ended up napping for a while. Even Asura seems to be exhausted. Either her feelings over the link are muted or my ability to feel her over the link is. Maybe both.

I ended up staring at the sky for a while. I think I drifted off a few times as well. Eventually I gathered myself enough to inspect the results of our work. A completely smooth sphere of golden glowing grass met my sight, interrupted only by the ring of Overlords around the equator, the Hive Cluster at the pole closest to the planet, and us. I have to admit, there's a simple beauty to it that makes me smile in content. Could use some trees, but for the moment, it looks ok.

That's when I notice that while laying down, I'm actually able to breathe a little bit. Startled, it took me a moment before I realized what must be going on. Plants are a part of the cycle of the atmosphere, taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. With Creep and Bio Energy taking care of the Carbon Dioxide requirement, the sheer amount of grass is starting to put out a very low level of atmosphere. I can only imagine with extra layers, meaning even more grass, the amount of atmosphere would increase greatly with each layer added.

Then my eyes went wide as the implications of that hit me. I'd not only gone and stopped the Creep from destroying worlds, I'd reversed the process to the point I could probably terraform dead planets. This… this is huge! Who's going to complain about more garden planets? Granted I'm sure there are life forms out there that would find oxygen poisonous or something, but the Creep can adapt for that. There's still more to be done, but this is a huge step to changing the Zerg for the better, and for the moment, I can't help but feel a great sense of accomplishment for it.

"_Someone seems in a grand mood. Care to share what has you so happy?"_ Asura asked. So I told her.

"…_so the likelihood of another race viewing us as a scourge to be eliminated has lessened dramatically. It'll be a lot easier to make friends this way, and the more friends we have, the less enemies, and the less enemies we have, the safer the Swarm will be. Benevolent and good. A haven from the ills of life. That is what I want the Zerg to be. I want people to see the Zerg coming and cheer instead of scream in terror." _I finished.

A wave of good feelings washed over me from Asura and the rest of the Zerg.

"_That sounds wonderful, Matthew. A dream and a goal I would happily put my all into even if I weren't Zerg. You have my full support in this."_

I smiled, _"Thanks Asura."_

A moment passed as the whole of the Swarm shared in the warmth of each other, including myself. I then gathered my thoughts.

"_It seems we only have one thing left to do today. Do we have enough space and bio energy for a Behemoth?" _I asked.

"_Yes on both counts, Matthew."_ Responded Asura.

I nodded, _"Let's grow a Behemoth then."_

Asura agreed, and called up 6 Drones for the task. Once finished, she directed all six to a spot a ways away from the Hive Cluster. Once there, all the Drones formed a circle at Asura's direction, then as one ballooned out into a massive fleshy pulsating cocoon. Asura fell quiet, once again exhausted.

I walked up to her and placed a hand against her side. Asura leaned into the touch slightly and said in a whisper, _"It will take a bit of direction from me to grow properly, but nowhere near as much as it did starting out. I'll be fine." _She said in response to my worry.

"_That's good… will you be ok for conversation or looking after the Swarm, or will that be too distracting?"_ I asked.

Asura seemed tiredly amused, _"I can grow a Behemoth, talk to you, and look after the Swarm with no trouble. Growing two Behemoths at once might be a bit tricky though."_

I nodded along before her feelings clued me in that she was teasing. I swatted her side gently in response. She simply giggled in return.

"_Just take care of yourself ok? Don't try to take on too much at once and let me know if anything I ask might be too much. I don't want you getting overworked or stressing out. Ok?"_ I asked.

"_Yes Mother."_ Asura answered, amused.

I made a face before realizing with dawning horror that her joke could be taken literally, since I kinda sorta gave birth to the Swarm. Asura realized it at the same time I did and actually burst out laughing. I frowned and tried not to sulk as she continued laughing. Why did I have to go and explain so much of human culture to her?

Sighing, I turned away and flopped back against the grass, anchoring in place while I waited for Asura to finish. Her laughter is infectious though, especially since I can feel her merriment over the link and I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit myself.

Eventually we lapsed into a peaceful silence. I watched various things happening around the Swarm, including the rain. I explored the tenuous connection that had just established to the Behemoth. It's currently just a bundle of instincts focused on growing and following Asura's directions so it can't spare much thought for me. It does at least recognize me and spare me some feelings of warmth, which I return whole heartedly. I don't think I'll ever get tired of feeling the raw just born feelings of a new born Zerg still in the sac. There's just something so… primal, and awe inspiring about a brand new life that loves so unconditionally, even if the rest of the Zerg still feel that same love and connection even past that point. Even so. Maybe it's the human in me. I don't know. But I savor those precious moments when I can.

Not much later, Thanks to the toll from moving all that Creep today, I ended up falling asleep early.

-END CHAPTER-

AN- Btw, in case I didn't say it before, you really don't need to read the information below this point if you don't want to. It's just a quick reference sheet of info so I won't forget things. I have a more massive document of both math and Zerg info as well, but that stuff is what I need to remember without having to click over to another document each time I need to look.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 815/Income rate – 4415  
>Support – 171.5594_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Satellite Hive (1/32 layers)  
>1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)<br>1x Evolution Chamber  
>4x Creep Tumors<em>

_1x Cerebrate (Asura)  
>1x Behemoth (Growing. 3 days to finish.)<br>110x Overlords  
>31+24+12+6(73)x Mutalisks<em>

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep Lvl 1,2<br>Custom Upgrade – Queen Creep Tumor Birthing Chamber  
>Custom Building – Creep Tumor<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


	31. Chapter 31 - Day 22

I woke up feeling much refreshed after the work done yesterday. I sat up and stretched, pulling up a piece of Creep for breakfast. I started heading for the river to take care of my morning ablutions, only to freeze. Now that I think about it, I haven't had anything to drink since I got into space five days ago. I carefully smacked my lips together. They're not dry or chapped, and my mouth feels normal. Come to think of it, I haven't felt the need to piss since then either. I've had nothing to sustain myself except Creep… come to think of it, I haven't felt the need to pass a stool either in over a week! I'd been so busy trying to stay alive, I'd never even noticed, but now that things have calmed down…

I suppose it makes sense. Most people tend to take care of business on an as needed basis. I've just not felt the need. Do I just not need food or water anymore? I certainly don't need to breathe anymore, though it is nice to at least have a little atmosphere from the grass. I breathed it in deeply. Blessed Oxygen… and… nothing but Oxygen? Wait a second!

"_Morning Asura."_

Asura answered, _"Good morning Matthew. Is everything alright?"_

I shrugged and said, _"Maybe. Can you tell me what exactly is the Creep grass emitting that I'm breathing?"_

"_It's pure Oxygen Matthew."_

So I was right. There's no way a creature down on that planet would be able to breathe this. Unless… I don't actually need to breathe in the first place. I just breathed pure Oxygen and it did nothing to me. That planet isn't Earth. What if its atmosphere is nothing like Earth at all? How would I know?

"_Hey Asura, can you tell me the composition of the atmosphere on Minecraftia?"_

"_I'm sorry Matthew. I can't do that without first having a sample of the atmosphere in the Zerg Genetic Archive."_

"_Dang… how can you put gas into the Analysis pool anyway?..." _I thought to myself.

"_That would require an Extractor Matthew." _

I blinked, _"Wait really? I thought those were made to process Vespene gas from geysers?"_

Asura shook her head slightly, _"The Extractor can process and package any gaseous substance it comes in contact with as well as most liquids."_

"_Reeeeally…"_ I said, a few ideas forming in my head, before returning to my original train of thought, then realizing, _"Dang it, that would require it to be placed on the planet… that's not an option until we're strong enough to stand up to whatever those monsters on the Overworld can throw at us. Ah well."_

Placing my ideas for an Extractor aside for now, I returned to what originally brought this all to my attention, the fact that I evidently no longer need to use the bathroom. Ever. I don't need to eat, drink, or breathe, well, except for eating Creep in the morning for breakfast. Even so, not needing to 'go' anymore is kind of nice. At the same time though… this kinda drives it home for me. I may look human, but I'm not really. Not anymore.

I'm… not really sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, there's my goal to get home. Would they ever accept me like this? Then again, I was always kinda the odd one out even before this all happened. On the other hand, I've got the Zerg now, who are always constantly streaming bits of love, acceptance, and willingness to do anything I command at all times. I've never felt so accepted or loved as I do now in my entire life. It's… not really such a big deal if they accept me or not. It'd be nice if they did, but it's not like I need it. I guess we'll just have to see when I get there. When _we_ get there, I thought as I turned to Asura and the rest of the Zerg.

Walking up to Asura, I spontaneously stretched my arms and gave her a hug. I tried to anyway. It's more like I'm laying against her side with my arms spread wide. Two of Asura's legs closest to me lifted up as high as they could reach and hugged me back around my waist.

A few minutes passed and Asura commented, _"I like your hugs. Your feelings are more concentrated when you give them."_

I grinned a little, before commenting, _"It always surprises me how affectionate the Zerg are. I might have expected a willingness to obey, but love?"_ I wondered idly.

It was a rhetorical question, but Asura answered, _"The Zerg are a reflection of yourself Matthew. You are kind and affectionate, so we are kind and affectionate. A cruel and dominating Overmind would lead a cruel and dominating Swarm. This is true of any group of people and their leader. Lord Julian for instance, is wise and kind to his people, and he is friendly towards us. I imagine his people would be much less accepting if he disliked us."_

I scratched my head, _"So… the Zerg are only kind to me because I'm kind in return?"_ I felt a bit disappointed at the thought.

Asura responded in the negative. _"Not at all. You are capable of kindness, so we are capable of kindness. They are not beholden to love you, Matthew. You earn that all on your own."_

"_Oh."_ I responded, mollified, and feeling kinda guilty for some reason. Asura gave me a small squeeze and the feeling faded away in the wash of love over the Link. I relaxed and just stayed where I was, comfortable for the moment.

While I rested against Asura's side, my mind flitted about, checking various things through Oversight. I wasn't really doing it on purpose, it's kind of become instinct by now to keep an eye on the Swarm. One thing caught my attention though which had my eyes, which had slid shut of their own accord, shoot open in surprise.

"_Hey Asura?..."_

"_Yes Matthew?"_

"_How come we only have 230 bio energy?"_

"_I noticed during the night that the new size of the Satellite Hive was causing us to lose altitude. I had to create 50 more Overlords to halt our fall and return us to our original position."_

I winced, _"Wow. Good thing you're here then. If it were still just me, we'd be a crater on Minecraftia right now."_

Asura nodded, _"Quite."_

I 'hmm'ed, _"Well… with only 230 Bio Energy, we can't really do much, can we?"_

"_No Matthew. I might suggest thinking of an alternative to keeping the Satellite Hive's altitude in check that is more efficient than having 158 Overlords keeping it aloft."_

I scratched my head, _"Giant Overlord flight bladder as a building?"_

We passed the time trading ideas of different possible designs for Zerg buildings. Some of the ideas had merit and some were just plain ridiculous. I don't think either of us had any plans for actually attempting to design what we spoke of in the Evolution Chamber though. We're basically just playing a waiting game until the Behemoth is finished, which won't be until the day after tomorrow.

We ended up talking about Earth again. I mostly ended up telling Asura, who turned out to be a very attentive audience, stories, complete with mental pictures. It took some effort, but I even managed to show her Star Wars over the link, but it required my entire concentration to try and remember everything that happened. I'm pretty sure I messed up several lines, and the voices were off, but it mostly seemed ok. Again, Asura seemed most intrigued by the different creatures and aliens in the story. I did feel quite a sense of accomplishment in not managing to give away the big reveal on accident, so Asura's gasp when Darth Vader revealed himself to be Luke's father was quite satisfying.

Before I knew it, the impromptu Star Wars marathon got interrupted by my yawning. I could hardly believe we'd passed an entire day away. I ended up laying down right where I was next to Asura. We still talked though, but I started drifting in and out at this point. One of the times I nodded awake again, I found myself curled up against Asura's side, and her legs lifting up to settle over me and hold me close. It felt a little strange, but mostly comforting by this point.

We talked a little more, but finally, Asura said, _"You're not making any more sense Matthew. Sleep."_

By that point, I was so tired from trying to keep myself awake despite being so warm and comfortable, that I simply said, _"Okay."_ And immediately drifted off.

-END CHAPTER-

AN: Do you think a Hydralisk would have ever submitted to be petted under the original Overmind like it did for Kerrigan in the cinematic of her against Zeratul? What use would the Overmind have for such a human like gesture of affection? Just food for thought.

Hmm… I'm not so sure I like this chapter so much. Short, and basically filler as I try to pass the time with nothing to do. I probably won't be posting this until the next chapter comes up when something actually happens.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 230/Income rate – 4415  
>Support – 171.5844_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x Satellite Hive (1/32 layers)  
>1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)<br>1x Evolution Chamber  
>4x Creep Tumors<em>

_1x Cerebrate (Asura)  
>1x Behemoth (Growing. 2 days to finish.)<br>160x Overlords  
>31+24+12+6(73)x Mutalisks<em>

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep Lvl 1,2<br>Custom Upgrade – Queen Creep Tumor Birthing Chamber  
>Custom Building – Creep Tumor<em>

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


	32. Chapter 32 - Day 23

I awoke the next day to find myself still held within the grasp of Asura. A quick check of the Swarm revealed nothing of note. The amount of Bio Energy available is where I'd expect. 4,645. No idea what I'll do with it though.

Stretching, I settled back in the comfy spot I was laying feeling a bit lazy.

"_Good morning Matthew."_

I yawned. _"G'morning Asura. Anything happen last night?"_

"_Nothing of note."_

"_Ah… hm… this is so different from when I was on the planet… passing the time waiting for things to finish. It's kinda like that saying I learned in the military. 'Hurry up and wait.' Be quick to do things when they happen, and be patient when they don't."_

Asura 'hmm'ed in agreement. _"We do have more Bio energy. We could implement some of those upgrades that have been queued up in the Evolution Chamber."_

"_True. Sounds like a plan."_

"_What evolutions do you wish to upgrade the Swarm with?"_

"_I'm thinking… the building flight and Overlord speed upgrades would be best. It'll be a lot easier for the Overlords to keep the Satellite Hive in orbit then."_

"_Don't forget that upgrading the Zerg buildings to be permanently flight capable will raise the cost of them all by 600 bio energy each."_

"_Oh yeah… that's a little bit much isn't it… should probably wait on that one until the Bio energy income is increased. Hey, I just thought of something. With the Overlords, being able to generate a lot more lift, what with being faster, what's the minimum number of Overlords needed to keep the Satellite Hive in the sky?"_

"_We would only be able to find that out by having the Overlords detach from the Hive one by one after the evolution is complete."_

I nodded. _"Alright. Sounds like a plan then."_

With the Overlord Mutalisk speed upgrade started, we once again had to wait. The Bio energy is down by 300, but that still leaves 4,345 left. I'm unsure if I should save it for the trip to the moon or see if I can't add more upgrades to the Swarm.

After an hour passed, each Overlord ate a piece of Creep and underwent a short metamorphosis. They're all now slightly larger, and I can see a haze from the gas emitting from them if I look closely. The two still planetside, with no Creep available, enwrapped themselves in a cocoon for a few minutes before bursting out, looking exactly like the others. So access to Creep makes the transition faster. Good to know. Considering the time needed to make the change was so short… I wonder…

"_Hey Asura, if the Overlords were able to change so quickly, why did it take an hour to complete the evolution?"_

"_The evolution requires an hour at minimum to alter the genome of the affected Zerg. Altering the genetic code on a molecular level takes time. Once that stage is finished, the actual change is implemented by the evolving Zerg itself and only needs a few moments and energy to fuel the process, hence why the Overlords who had access to creep evolved quicker than the ones down on the planet. It also depends on how thorough the evolution is. If an evolution changes a Zerg enough to be considered a completely different Zerg, once finished, the Zerg may be required to enter a chrysalis state on the Creep for a variable length of time."_

"_Ah ok. That makes sense. So tweaking an Overlord only takes a few minutes in a cocoon off the Creep, or just a few seconds with the Creep, while morphing a Mutalisk into a Guardian changes the Mutalisk so much it requires Bio Energy and 25 minutes in a cocoon."_

"_Partially correct. The Bio Energy initially spent to start the evolution of the Genome also goes into the evolution itself." _Asura answered.

With that explained, we started detaching Overlords from the Satellite Hive, careful to have them hold position so we can use them to determine exactly when the Satellite Hive starts falling. One by one, the 158 Overlords detached from the Satellite Hive until only 75 are left. As soon as the 75th one detached, the Satellite Hive started to sag despite the Overlord's efforts.

"_Well, whaddaya know, 75 Overlords needed to keep the Satellite Hive from moving, and 83 detached. That's less than half the group! Less than I expect actually."_

"_Correct Matthew. Did you wish to use the other 83 Overlords for something else?"_

I scratched behind my ear, _"Yes and no. For one thing, I'd rather have a hundred Overlords holding onto the Satellite Hive just in case. That leaves 58 free. I want to try something. While this Satellite Hive has rock and dirt for a core, I want to see if 58 Overlords can hold a Satellite Hive in place that's nothing but Creep."_

"_You wish to create another Satellite Hive?"_ Asura asked in surprise.

I grinned. _"Yup."_

Soon enough, a new Drone had come into the world and morphed into a Creep Tumor. Through our concentrated efforts, Asura and I had the new Creep Tumor balloon up to its full size and bud off, held and stabilized by the 58 Overlords. To my surprise and delight, the Overlords were able to keep it from budging an inch. Success!

Curious, I had the Overlords peel off one by one to test the minimum requirement to keep this new Satellite Hive Cluster aloft. Turns out its 50. How convenient! I kept the extra 8 attached just in case though.

"_This is perfect! Now with two Satellite Hives, the Bio Energy available to the Swarm has been doubled!"_

"_Not exactly Matthew."_

I sighed, _"Yeah I know, the second one is smaller, so it's less than doubled, but saying something is less than doubled just isn't the same…"_

"_I understand, but that's not what I meant. Unless you build a Hatchery on the second Satellite Hive or keep the two connected via the Creep, the Bio energy the second Satellite Hive generates won't go anywhere and will simply dissipate over time."_

I blinked in surprise, _"What? Why?"_

"_Bio Energy is sunlight and various other energy sources converted by the Creep. It was originally meant to be used as a secondary food source for the Zerg buildings and the Creep itself, as it wasn't very efficient, but somehow the Creep you have is extremely efficient at collecting the various energies of the universe, sunlight in particular. Enough so, that you have enough surplus to use to build and evolve the Swarm instead of needing to obtain a more potent resource. _

"_However, the Creep is merely a collector and conduit for this Bio Energy. Without a Hatchery to act as a battery to store it in, the Bio Energy has nowhere to go and the Creep stops converting sunlight into Bio Energy when it becomes fully saturated. Unless you maintain a tendril of Creep between the Satellite Hives to allow the Creep of the second Satellite Hive to store the energy it collects in the Hive and Hatcheries here, or build a Hatchery on the second Satellite Hive, all the Bio Energy that could be collected from the Creep will have nowhere to go."_

I blinked in surprise. _"Huh. That explains a lot... wait… that doesn't explain why the Bio Energy collected by the Creep isn't available for use until midnight. Why doesn't the Bio Energy available to the Swarm steadily increase over time instead?"_

Asura was silent for a moment, then answered softly, _"I don't know the answer to that Matthew. Along with how efficient your Creep is at collecting and converting energy to Bio energy, I haven't been able to figure out where the Bio Energy is going before it enters the Hatchery's Resource Pools. I've been trying to figure it out, and it feels as though the answer is staring me in the face, but it keeps eluding me regardless. It's enough to drive a person daft!"_

I laid a hand on Asura's side, _"Hey, it's ok. It's not the end of the world if you can't figure it out ok? Don't stress about it. Don't worry, be happy!"_

Asura seemed to pull back in confusion. _"What…"_

I blinked, _"What?"_

Asura said slowly, _"When you said those last four words… you also sent a burst of sound over the link I could barely follow. Did you mean to do that?"_

"_Ah no… sorry. I think I know what you mean though. Those four words are also tied to a famous song sung by a man named Bob Marley. The song is even called, 'Don't Worry, Be Happy!' I kinda remember the song everytime I say those words, and I must've accidently sent you bits of the song along with the words."_

"_Actually… I think you gave me the whole song. I had to slow it down considerably, but it doesn't sound like any bits are missing. Incredible… this song is… catchy."_

I grinned. _"Yeah, it is. Part of why it's so famous."_

Asura started waving back and forth, and I could actually hear the song over the link now as she listened. _"Brilliant…"_ I whispered and nodded my head along.

I shook my head before I got too lost in the tune, _"Ah, before I forget, I actually had another question."_

The song stopped to my disappointment, but I shook the feeling away. _"What is it?"_ asked Asura.

"_From what you said, does that mean if I placed a Hatchery on the second Satellite Hive and kept the two disconnected, does that mean I would have a second Bio Energy pool only that Hatchery could use?"_

"_Correct."_

Woah… that explains so much… why you have to start out collecting a new pool of resources every mission in the game… I bet it even explains… _"Hey Asura? Does that also mean that any Zerg born of that Hatchery would have none of the upgrades that my current Zerg have?"_

"_Yes. Without a connection to the first Satellite Hive, a Hatchery on the second would be unable to make use of the evolutions or genomes provided by the buildings on the first without a connection of the Creep. Psionics only go so far. A physical component is needed as well, and that can only be provided by a connection between the buildings through the Creep. For instance, if you built an Ultralisk Cavern here on this Satellite Hive, you would not be able to make Ultralisks at a Hatchery on the second Satellite Hive without that connection."_

Wow. So I was right. That really does explain why you have to start over with resources and upgrades every mission in Starcraft. And here I thought that was just a game mechanic. I wonder if it's a similar issue with Protoss and Terrans?

Either way, in that case, it doesn't look like the second Satellite Hive will be going very far at all. I had the Overlords maneuver it to the back end opposite the Hive Cluster and away from the planet, then connected the two together via the Creep. Now I should have even more Bio Energy coming in tomorrow!

Grinning as I examined the two connected Satellite Hives, I went over what Asura had told me about having the two be disconnected and then frowned as something that I hadn't considered came to light. _"Hey Asura? Remember when you said that a Hatchery on the second Satellite Hive wouldn't have access to the upgrades from the first Satellite Hive if they weren't connected? Does that include the custom upgrades made in the Evolution Chamber?"_

Asura responded in the negative, _"All of your current evolutions to the Swarm made through the Zerg Genetic Archive are permanent. As such, Overlords will always cost 200 Bio Energy and have the Mutalisk style flight upgrade. Non permanent upgrades are the ones you find are linked to certain buildings and allow you to have a temporarily upgraded Swarm, with the advantage of keeping the units cheap to produce. Any upgrade made permanent will increase the amount of Bio Energy it costs to produce that unit from the start with the upgrade already applied. With a building providing the upgrade instead, the unit remains cheap and the building provides the material needed for the upgrade. There are benefits and downsides to both methods."_

Woah. There's an actual methodology to keeping the upgrades attached to the buildings? _"So you're saying, if I'd made that Mutalisk style speed upgrade for the Overlords come from the Lair or Hive instead of applied immediately, the Overlords would have the upgrade AND only cost 100 bio energy, but any Hive not connected to that one Hive would have to research that ability in order to produce Overlords with that speed upgrade?"_

"_Correct."_ Answered Asura.

Wow. Wish I'd known that earlier. It's a lot to take in… Asura was right, there are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to either method… on the one hand, if I ever create Hive Clusters that are disconnected from the others, I'd have to research the evolutions all over again, which would be annoying and expensive… but on the other, having units be expensive from the get go means any disconnected Hives that are just starting to get their own Bio Energy pool wouldn't be able to put out as many units at first if they're deploying in a hot spot.

I could just plan to not have disconnected Hives, but that's unrealistic. It's going to happen eventually, especially if I plan on spreading the Swarm at all. What am I gonna do, run Creep tethers between separate planets? I snorted, envisioning such a tether connected from Mars to Venus. The instant Mars orbits around so that the sun is between the two, bye bye tether.

I'd actually imagined the Solar system once with each planet colonized by high tech humans for a story I once wrote. They had flexible tethers connected to each planet. To avoid having the Tethers get tangled up or cross through the sun, they'd connect to a hub either above or below the Sun. Could I do something like that here?

I shook my head. Wait, what am I thinking? This planet and its sun and moon don't even move relative to each other, apart from Minecraftia's spinning. Also, as far as I can tell, there aren't any other planets in this solar system. Odd, but then, so is a non-orbiting planet not reacting to a Star's gravity well. Compared to that, a lack of other planets in this logic bending solar system doesn't even get a blip on the weird-o-meter.

Then again, my Satellite Hive DOES react to Minecraftia's gravity well. The only reason it isn't falling to the planet below is due to the Overlords holding it in place. That suggests that gravity isn't so out of whack here as to defy all description. Perhaps… maybe there's something anchoring the three celestial bodies from falling into each other as well? But what?

More questions, and not enough answers. I need more data before I can come to any conclusions. Perhaps I'll find those answers on the moon?

"_Zergling for your thoughts?"_

"_Huh? Sorry, I was off in my own little world, thinking. What'd you say?"_

Amused, Asura repeated, _"I said, Zergling for your thoughts?"_

"_Oh."_ I chuckled, feeling slightly embarrassed. _"I was just thinking about things. Is there any way to make a permanent upgrade to the Swarm… unpermanent?"_ I asked.

"_Yes. It would be treated like another upgrade though and would cost Bio Energy, but you could remove a permanent upgrade through the Zerg Genetic Archive the same way the evolution was first applied, only in reverse. Why do you ask?"_

"_Oh, I'm just thinking maybe it'd be better to remove those upgrades from the Overlord and Queen and attach them to their respective buildings instead, namely a Hive and a Queen's Nest respectively. It'd be cheaper in the long run, but it would mean Overlords would be back to their ridiculously slow selves and Queen's wouldn't be able to create Creep Tumors starting off for any new Hive Cluster disconnected from the original. While the latter wouldn't be as big of a deal, slow Overlords are a bit of a problem, especially if they're being relied on to hold up Satellite Hives. I'm just not sure what path would be better in the long run, or if there's another solution I'm just not seeing right now."_

Asura brushed up against me and wrapped a leg around my waist and pulled my down till I'm sitting, leaning against her. I sighed, releasing some of the tension I hadn't realized I'd started developing while I was thinking through the problem. _"Better?"_

I leaned back a bit more, _"Yes… thank you. I hadn't realized how bothered I was getting over this…" _I took another deep breath and released it in a sigh, relaxing a bit more. Asura wrapped another leg around me, pulling me into a proper hug, or as proper a hug as can be given between a human and a Cerebrate anyway.

"_Perhaps you should take your own advice on this."_ Said Asura.

"_Huh?"_ I responded oh so intelligently.

"_I believe you said, 'Hey, it's ok. It's not the end of the world if you can't figure it out ok? Don't stress about it.'_ _You'll figure it out eventually." _Asura quoted, even sounding like me over the link.

I chuckled, _"Yeah, I'm not so great at following my own advice sometimes. Thanks for keeping me grounded there Asura."_

"_I… don't understand the phrase, but, you're welcome, Matthew."_

I grinned slightly. _"Grounded. You know, electricity? Jumpy like a spark from a live wire? You kept my emotions and stress from getting out of control. S'probably not the origin of the saying, but it's about the same thing."_

"_Ah, of course. Electricity. Thank you for explaining it to me. The things humans invented to circumvent their own natural evolution when it proved too slow are fascinating!"_

I chuckled, and we ended up spending the rest of the day discussing the industrial revolution, computers, and I shared some more music now that I know I could do so. It occurred to me part way through that I'm basically giving Asura a crash course in human history, economics, technology, and culture. Since when did I become a teacher? Ah well, at least it's fun teaching Asura. It was much later before I fell asleep that night.

-END CHAPTER-

AN: Wow, lots of info this chapter! Didn't think I had it in me! Quite frankly I thought this would turn out like last chapter… short and mostly empty filler.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help but slip that reference in there. Technically my character isn't even one of those. I'd say more, but I don't want to give away what the reference is if peeps don't get it. Unless it's really obvious, then I'll change the author's notes or something, assuming anyone even reads these.

And yes, I did just turn the Hive mind of the Zerg into the ultimate music player. Should've seen that coming when I played movies over it last chapter. After all, it stands to reason if you can talk mentally… well, that's sound. And you can sound however you want to in your head. Sound and sight are just electrical signals interpreted by the brain anyway. (Matrix reference FTW! XD) It stands to reason if you can speak over a mental link or share memories, you can play music over it too. So awesome!

Also I realize my explanation for why you have to re-evolve the Swarm every mission in Starcraft doesn't take into account secondary bases on the same map… or does it? The wiki says Creep extends for miles below the surface to absorb minerals and such out of the ground, so it stands to reason any Hive Cluster in the same general area, either on a planet or space platform, would be connected underground. The Creep of my story doesn't do that mostly due to the whole 'bio energy' thing, so having tendrils going underground for miles isn't really necessary or doable.

I'm also at a bit of a loss for what the Swarm's enemies can do now. This story kinda feels like playing chess against myself in a way. Problem is, how can you play against an opponent who's taken his pieces off the board? I'd get more into it, but that there would be spoiler territory.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 4245/Income rate – 6375  
>Support – 171.5844_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x R.C. Satellite Hive (1/32 layers; 4415 BE income)  
>- 1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)<br>- 1x Evolution Chamber  
>- 4x Creep Tumors<br>1x C.C. Satellite Hive (0/32 layers; 1960 BE income)_

_1x Cerebrate (Asura)  
>1x Behemoth (Growing. 1 day to finish.)<br>160x Overlords  
>31+24+12+6(73)x Mutalisks<em>

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep Lvl 1,2<br>Custom Upgrade – Queen Creep Tumor Birthing Chamber  
>Custom Upgrade – Overlord Muta Speed<br>Custom Building – Creep Tumor_

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


	33. Chapter 33 - Day 24

Dawn of the third day. Only 12 hours remain… until my Behemoth is finished!

Excited, I hopped up. I know there's still quite a bit of time left to wait, but I can't help it. Today marks a turning point for the Zerg Swarm. No longer will we be bound to a single planet. The Zerg shall roam the stars once again! We'll be able to make friends, maybe find my way home, and boldly go where no Zergling has gone before!

Asura chuckled, _"Someone seems excited."_

I shrugged, _"Can't help it. This is a really big day. An important day. It's weird, but I can't help but feel this great thrill of energy at having come this far with the Swarm. It's kind of nice."_

Asura nodded, _"I know what you mean."_

Walking around a little bit, I hopped in place, trying to work off a little of the excitement, only to come to a shock that I'm stuck and I'm not going back down! I'd almost forgotten that the Satellite Hive has almost no gravity, since I'd been mainly staying in one place or I'd been anchored down by the Creep. This is the first time I'd ever not had at least one foot on the ground.

Bending down, I tried to grasp the Creep and pull myself back down, but I ended up setting myself in a slow spin, and I flailed a bit as I tried to reach the ground.

Belatedly, I could feel Asura trying, and failing, to hold back extreme amusement. I imagine if she were human, she'd probably be curled on the ground unable to breathe with tears down her face from laughing too hard. I probably look absolutely ridiculous, flailing about trying to reach the ground while slowly spinning about.

Finally I snapped, _"Oh hardy har har, come over here and help me, darn it!"_

Still chuckling, Asura scooted over and, using her body, I pushed off gently towards the ground, once more reattaching to the Creep. Of course, all turned about as I was, I basically ended up in a heap before I could straighten myself out and stood back up.

Asura's chuckles finally wound down and she said contritely, _"I'm sorry. You just looked so silly, spinning about like that, I couldn't help myself."_

I sighed, _"Yeah, I know. I kinda saw, what with my Oversight and all. I did look pretty ridiculous. That oughta teach me to jump in space without a way to come back down." _I grinned slightly, which set Asura off again with a fresh set of giggles. I chuckled along for a moment and sat back down, the brief excitement and panic doing wonders for my energy level, leaving me somewhat calm again. I'm still excited, but not to the point I felt the need to move like before.

Asura finished giggling, and a few minutes passed in contented silence. Eventually I began to wonder what we should do today. Certainly the Behemoth will be born today and all, but that's not for another eleven-ish hours. That's well into the evening and right now its morning.

Casting my thoughts about, I 'hmm'ed, and said, _"Hey Asura, do you think we should build some more Satellite Hives while we wait?"_

Asura didn't answer right away. I could almost feel her crunching numbers over the link. After a minute she responded, _"We could Matthew, but we would need 50 more Overlords to hold another Satellite Hive aloft. At 200 Bio energy per Overlord, plus the Drone and Creep Tumor, that comes out to 10,100 Bio Energy. We would be left with 520 Bio energy for the rest of the day, and less Bio Energy tomorrow than if we hadn't spent any Bio Energy at all." _

I winced. _"Ah. Good point. So no more Satellite Hives for the time being. Still, there's got to be something we can do while we wait."_

"_We could converse. There is still much we have not spoken of I'm sure."_

I pondered, _"You know… there is something we've not talked about. We've gone over music, literature, movies, and various bits of technology… but you know something we've yet to discuss? Food."_

"_Food?"_ Asura asked, sounding simultaneously curious and disbelieving, like she can't understand why I'd want to talk about something like that.

"_Yes, food. You've eaten Creep right? You know what that tastes like? What would you describe it as?"_

Asura seemed silent for a moment, casting about with her mind like she's searching for something. Finally she answered hesitantly, _"Nourishing?... Filling?... it staves hunger and gives me energy."_

I gaped at her, _"But what about the taste, the texture?"_

Asura seemed to regard me a moment, whilst at the same time her mind cast about more. Slowly, she looked down and using two legs, pinched up a piece of Creep and rolled it around as best she could in her limited grip. _"It's… squishy? As for taste, I do not have these 'taste buds' to experience such a thing. I normally would not feel the texture of Creep as you would in your mouth since I directly absorb it through the skin on my underbelly. What do you experience when you eat the Creep?"_

I gaped at her explanation, unable to comprehend not having tasted anything. In response to her question, I focused on the Creep myself, bringing to mind the sweet crunchiness of it as it melts in my mouth as it goes down. Bearing in mind that sensation, I pushed it towards the link and her. Asura reeled back almost as if struck.

"_What IS that!? I've never felt anything like it! It's… extremely pleasant! And… crunchy? What _is_ this?"_ Asura exclaimed.

I grinned, _"That, is what Creep tastes like to me. That pleasant feeling I gave you is the taste of something sweet. I can't believe you've never experienced taste. I know you're young, but surely you've felt it when a Zerg eats the Creep haven't you? What about when I asked you to return the original taste of the Creep?"_

Asura shook her head, _"I only knew something of the Creep was unpleasant to you when you consumed it. All I had to do was take the majority of the composition of the original Creep and apply it to the Creep Grass. It didn't affect the composition overly much, and if it turned out it wasn't enough, I would have questioned you more extensively on the subject. Thankfully the change was sufficient. As for your first question, I've not experienced any other Zerg eating Creep while I was tapped into their link. Even if I was, most Zerg don't have taste buds as you do. They have no need of them."_

I gaped openly in horror at that. _"None? Wait, you said most Zerg. Which Zerg do have taste buds?" _I wondered.

"_Devourers."_ Asura answered simply.

I made a face. _"Leave it to the cannibals of the Swarm to be the ones who could possibly comprehend the joy that is ice cream. That's messed up. Why would Devourers even need taste buds anyway?"_

It'd been a mostly rhetorical question, with just the slightest hint of morbid curiosity. I'm not sure whether to be happy or not that Asura decided to answer. _"Devourers are, along with Queens and Overlords, some of the more intelligent of the non sapient Zerg. Most of that intelligence is dedicated to the breeding and control of their micro-organisms that they use as a weapon for the Swarm. A sense of taste is necessary for them to be able to make sure the composition of their living bio weapons is correct and stable."_

Definitely leaning towards being sorry I asked. I can't even imagine having to constantly taste what amounts to disease and pestilence, all in the name of making sure it's ready for the Swarm. That's like tasting a bar of soap to see if it's good for washing with. Nasty and disturbing, all rolled into one. I suddenly don't feel so keen about talking about food anymore. Almost.

Shuddering, I said, _"Well, food tastes a lot more awesome than what a Devourer tastes, I'm sure. And that sweetness I showed you? That's only the tip of the iceburg when it comes to the wonders of taste that food can give you. Sure, maybe taste is meant to be an efficient way to judge whether something is safe to eat or not, but it can be so much more. There's sweet and salty and savory and sour. There's bitter, but that's not such an awesome taste, though some like it I think. All of those can combine to make the most amazing combinations, that at its peak, can reduce some to tears it's so good."_

"_As good as sex?"_ Asura asked innocently curious.

I facepalmed. Hard. Abruptly I'm reminded of when I had to give the talk to Asura a few days ago. She'd been most curious about the sensation and feeling then too, particularly 'orgasms'.

It took great effort, but I eventually opened my mouth and forced out the words, _"Some have described eating chocolate, a sweet, as being like 'an orgasm of the mouth', yes."_

Asura 'hmm'ed. _"Humans are so strange. Why would speaking of such topics embarrass you so?"_

I struggled to come up with words. How does one explain the embarrassment ingrained in a person through 26 years of growing up in human society where such a topic is taboo to a person who knows only a society where everything is shared via mental link so there's no hiding anything in the first place, and practical efficiency is the norm so hiding such a thing would be of no use anyway?

"_It's… complicated. How to explain… I'll try to use an analogy. Are you familiar with the term OpSec?"_

Asura tilted her head. Where is she getting those human gestures from? Surely not from me?

"_You mean Operational Security? The concept is… strange… but I can understand holding some secrets of the Swarm from allies if they have no need to know."_

I nodded. _"Sex is like a secret you keep from your allies until a certain time limit has passed. However, since there are several people that can't know of the secret because their time limit hasn't passed, the secret is kept hushed up. Worse still, sex is viewed as dirty and abhorrent for various complex reasons, adding to the dislike of talking about it. Like if you messed up something I asked you to do and didn't really want to admit it. Over time, you get so used to keeping it a secret and hushed up, that speaking of it can inspire and automatic response of shame and a desire to hush the person speaking about it, lest others overhear you speaking the secret and judging you for such a thing."_

Asura seemed shocked, _"Wow… that is complicated. Also confusing. Why would the act of procreation be viewed as dirty and abhorrent?"_

"_Ehhhh… can we not talk about that? It has a lot to do with religion and politics and that can get even more complicated and confusing very quickly."_ I said, very uncomfortable now.

Asura subsided, _"As you wish Matthew."_

I nodded, relieved, _"Thanks. Anyway… so… taste… yeah… food is pretty awesome. When you get the chance to evolve, you should try it sometime…"_

Asura nodded, _"I just might do that. What are some of your favorite foods?"_

That became a rather long list in which Asura asked various questions about some of the foods I listed. This often lead into food preparation and recipes, as well as the different cultures of food. I also told her about some foods that were just plain strange and different, such as escargot and squid, the latter of which being the only one I've had before. The description of salty, squishy, rubber that is squid intrigued Asura as much as it put me off. I suppose she'll have to try it before she decides she doesn't like it. It's different for everyone, I imagine especially for a Zerg who's never actually tasted anything before, except for a vague impression of sweet from second hand experience.

Asura and I talked about stuff like this for several hours. At one point, I called out my three Zergling guards that had been waiting inside my first Overlord this whole time. I directed them to eat some Creep, and they ripped up strips of it in their teeth and swallowed it down without even chewing. Ausra was right. No taste at all. Barely any texture even since they didn't even need to chew. Weird. After that we left the Zerglings to their own devices. I watched in interest as they ran around, barely even hindered by zero G. Between their claws latching onto the Creep and the Creep latching right back, you wouldn't even know there's barely any gravity from looking at them.

Every now and then, I would check the progress of the Behemoth when there was a lull in the conversation. It seemed to amuse Asura, but she didn't comment. She even seems to be anticipating the hatching as well.

Finally, at five minutes to go, we both fell silent, watching. The cocoon seems to be pulsating a tad faster.

Finally only a minute left to go.

30 seconds.

Now 10.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

With a great noiseless splatter, the cocoon exploded outward, the bits of it scattering before seemingly evaporating into thin air like all Zerg cocoons. I watched in wide eyed awe as the creature unfolded itself from within the tight shell it was in. It's enormous! The Behemoth dwarfs the Satellite Hive we're on. I didn't expect it to be quite that large! Compared to other Zerg, the name Behemoth seems rather apt now, seeing it up close like this.

Now that the Behemoth is out of its cocoon, it finally sounded over the link, rather than sending solely emotions. It sounds like a cross between an alligator growl and a whale call. I can feel an intelligence that dwarfs that of an Overlord, but even so, it isn't Sapient. Switching to oversight, I examined the new creature of the Swarm. It looks like a cross between a whale and a manta ray. Its giant maw of a mouth gapes open, full of razor sharp retractable teeth, which may look small by perspective, but are actually as tall as large as a Hydralisk. It doesn't have any eyes that I can discern, but I doubt that matters much. Also everywhere I look, if it's not covered by a hardened black carapace, it has matte black scales, particularly on the parts that look like they move.

Taking a closer look in its mouth, I can see a wide gaping maw, and what look to be flesh like ridges that are large enough to stand on at the back of the throat. It's deep, cavernous, and… dark…

Eyes widening, I asked quickly, _"Please tell me that thing is well lit or at least generates Creep in its interior!?"_

Asura, sensing my alarm, answered quickly, _"Yes. The Behemoth has organs that mimic a Hive in its entirety. That includes several Hive's worth of Larvae and the Creep needed to keep them alive. Don't worry Matthew. I took advantage of the fact that Creep can sustain its own nutrient cycle, no longer needing to leech energy from the Behemoth itself, which it in turn absorbs from the sun, and had the Creep spread throughout its interior so that no enemy of the Swarm would be able to spawn inside."_

I sighed in relief. _"Oh good. I'd almost forgotten that you were actually guiding the development of the Behemoth this whole time, since we talked so often and you didn't seem distracted at all."_

"_I'm an excellent multitasker, Matthew."_ Asura responded.

I nodded, _"Yeah… if Overlords are the micromanagers of the Swarm, Cerebrates are the Macro…"_

I turned to look back at the Behemoth admiringly. At this size, the Behemoth really ought to be called a living ship rather than a creature.

"_Will you name it?"_ Asura inquired, curious.

I thought about it, _"You don't want to name him?"_

Asura shook her head slightly, _"He is yours. You should name him."_

I nodded, _"Thank you... to be honest, I was kind of hoping to name him. I wasn't sure if you would or not, but if you didn't, I was thinking about it a bit… I plan on having more Behemoth's, but this one… This is the first Behemoth. The flagship of the Zerg. No matter what form he takes, whether it's a Behemoth, Leviathan, or whatever we do to evolve him in the future, that won't change. It took a while, but I did come up with a name. It's oddly appropriate I think, all things considered."_

While I was speaking, the Behemoth drifted down towards us at my call. Now, it's close enough that I reached out my hand and rubbed it against the carapace. The growl it emitted, while deep and would have probably made a small earthquake if it were audible, reminded me more of a purr than anything.

"_So what did you name him?"_ Asura asked.

I smiled. _"Daggoth."_

Asura eyed me and the newly christened Daggoth speculatively. _"Why Daggoth?"_

I patted Daggoth's side, then turned to Asura and answered, _"Daggoth is the name of the original Overmind's top Cerebrate, kind of like how you're my top Cerebrate. I honestly always harbored a lot of respect for the guy. There's just something about him. He has the largest brood, and he also had some of my personal favorite Zerg, the Hunter Killers."_

I grinned a bit darkly in remembrance, _"Hunter Killers were a special strain of Hydralisk. They were bigger, stronger, faster, harder to kill, and I like to think they were also silent on top of being almost ludicrously deadly. Among a race that was practically bred to be cannon fodder, they stood out above the rest. Treat a Hunter Killer right, and what would normally take an army, only needs two to six of those elite Zerg."_

"_As awesome as Hunter Killer's were though, Daggoth himself was truly a cut above the rest. He survived the death of the Overmind and almost singlehandedly kept over half the Swarm, some billions strong, from falling apart, then directed a number of other Cerebrates to become a new Overmind, survived the enslavement and death of THAT Overmind, and was one of the last alive when Kerrigan hunted down and killed the rest of the Cerebrates. To think he survived THAT long, and against the Queen of Blades herself… now that's impressive."_

I patted the side of my new Behemoth in appreciation of his namesake.

Asura mused, _"Strong, resilient, resourceful, and deadly. A good name for the flagship of the Swarm."_

I nodded. _"Thanks. Since you were the one to guide Daggoth's development, care to give me the tour on what he can do?"_

"_Alright. As I said before, thanks to some of the upgrades already made to the Swarm, he's already a bit different from the original strain of Behemoth. Every opening large enough to move in has a layer of Creep, ensuring the interior is always well lit and no monsters are able to spawn inside. There are also sections of the Behemoth that can combine with a Drone to become a fully fledged Hive Cluster. Currently the Behemoth produces 12 Larvae and has the equivalent of one Hive. It can be upgraded to produce triple that amount with three more equivalent Hives, and has can be upgraded to hold the equivalent of one of each Zerg building in the Swarm, barring Creep colonies. That is what those slots on the outer carapace are for."_

Asura made a gesture with her link and I followed her gaze to several hollow points on the surface of the Behemoth I hadn't noticed before.

"_There are four banks of five slots for Spore Colonies on the surface of the Behemoth. The Creep those Spore Colonies produce will serve as a first line of defensive armor for both the Spore Colonies and the Behemoth itself. Unfortunately the Behemoth is just not big enough to support more, and making it bigger via the Creep would decrease its speed and maneuverability."_

That got me wondering, _"How does it move in the first place?"_

Asura answered, _"A combination of psionics, gas expulsion, and solar sailing when it's not travelling through tunnels of warped space."_

I nodded in understanding, and Asura continued, _"Aside from these slots for Spore Colonies, a Behemoth's main weapon is normally its ability to mass produce Zerg. When fighting ship to ship, a Behemoth must normally either use Spore Colonies, or 'bite' onto an enemy vessel, upon which the Zerg aboard the Daggoth would tear open a hole onto the ship and board it, destroying everything inside. In this case however, I added these."_ Asura gestured to the teeth.

"_This way, a Behemoth can tear apart a ship or other large flying creature itself if there are no other Zerg available on board. I also added an ability based on the Hydralisk's ranged Needle Spines. Observe."_

As one, all of the teeth bent forward and fired in one massive salvo. I gaped in shock and awe. Those teeth are practically the size of Hydralisks themselves. _"How many teeth was that?"_ I asked.

"_Exactly 100. The Behemoth has control over how many fire at one time, so they can fire all at once every five seconds, they can fire one every .05 seconds, or anything in between. They have a decent firing cone that matches the angle of the mouth, but the Behemoth doesn't have a very good turning speed, so they aren't very useful against small agile targets. That's what the shorter ranged Spore Colonies are for."_

"_What is the range of those teeth?"_

"_In space, technically infinite until they hit something. In atmosphere, they have a range of 2.5 KM in a straight line. They could go farther if angled upwards and given a ballistic trajectory, but their accuracy would be just awful at that point. Unfortunately they would make poor space to atmosphere or space to surface weapons since they would burn up before they reached the target. Thankfully that's not as much of an issue since Behemoths can enter the atmosphere of most planets."_

"_Cool, good to know. Anything else I should know?" _I asked.

Asura shook her head, _"That's mostly everything. All that's left is to take a tour and see for yourself if you wish. I also added quarters you can sleep in just off of the area where the Behemoth can store Zerg as well."_

I blinked in surprise and smiled, _"Thanks! I appreciate it."_

"_You're welcome."_ Answered Asura.

Asura, the three Zerglings, and I then boarded two Overlords, Asura taking up the entire interior of one by herself, into the maw of Daggoth. Thankfully the teeth are also retractable, so we didn't get skewered upon landing.

The Zerglings ran ahead and we followed them down the throat into the main chamber of the Behemoth. In a way, this is what I'd imagine the inside of a hollowed out ribcage full of various organs to look like. Just as Asura said, the walls are coated with Creep, making everything inside lit bright as day and covered in golden grass. You can still see the impression of ribs and walls of flesh underneath though.

As promised, Asura lead me to the right and up a ramp built right into the wall of the interior of the Behemoth. There's another on the other side that forms a kind of V shape above the opening that leads to the mouth. Both ramps lead up to a balcony that lets me oversee most everything that's inside the Behemoth. Behind this balcony is a recess in the fleshy wall that can sort of be considered a room. It's just barely large enough for Asura to fit in if she squeezed, and its only adornment is a lumpy rise of flesh that is surprisingly soft. I slowly sat down on it. It sank to fit the contours of my body, and when I stood up, it rose to its former position, kind of like memory foam. No pillow though. Ah well, you can't have everything. At least it's large enough to completely stretch out on.

Standing back up, I walked over to the balcony and leaned against the lip it has that forms a railing of sorts. Since the opening of the mouth is large enough to accommodate an Ultralisk without it brushing its head against the ceiling, and the balcony is above that, I'm a good two stories up and can see most everything in the Behemoth. Looking around, I spied several recesses in the walls of the Behemoth. There's no easy way to get to those recesses unlike my quarters. I'm sure the Creep would allow me to walk along the walls towards them though since this is a Zero G environment. It's going to take a bit getting used to, but I'm sure I'll manage.

Looking closer at those recesses, I notice open pods just large enough for a Drone to fit in. Those must be where I can place the equivalent of Zerg buildings from a normal Hive Cluster, Like Asura said. Towards the back of the Behemoth are four large prominent recesses, one of which has a fleshy organ that looks sort of like a Hive if you look at it from the top down. There's no openings, but I can already feel the larvae that are inside. To my surprise, instead of three, there are five of them. I can also see through Oversight that there is a Bio Energy pool inside, so at least all the Bio Energy this Creep produces will be stored instead of being lost.

I swept my gaze around once more, before turning to Asura and asked, _"Anything I missed?"_

"_No Matthew. I've shown you everything there is to know about Daggoth."_ Asura answered.

I nodded, looking back out again and idly commented, _"Sure is a lot of room for upgrades."_

Asura responded in the affirmative, _"I did my best to anticipate your desires for this Behemoth, that included leaving those areas where you can place the buildings of the Zerg open ended. You can place any building you wish there, but there are enough open slots for four Hives, including the one already there, and one of each building not including Creep Colonies or Creep Tumors. All told that comes to 13 spaces to place buildings, 12 of which are open."_

I looked around. 13 spaces? But the recesses all look symmetrical. _"Where is the 13__th__ space?"_

Asura gestured up with her psionic presence. Looking in that direction, I spied a recess in the wall above my bedroom. Suddenly realizing, I spun around to stare at my bedroom. _"Would my quarters be the 14__th__ space then?"_

Asura answered, _"No. The mouth and opening into the main chamber of the Behemoth takes up too much space for there to be a 14__th__ spot, and the floor and ceiling space is already meant to be used as a holding area for Zerg. The open air space in the center is for any flying Zerg."_

I nodded, _"One last question. Is the opening in the mouth the only way in or out of the Behemoth?"_

Asura answered, _"No, there is an emergency exit to the rear of the Behemoth in between the spaces for the Hives. It is a part of a system of four ports in which the Behemoth may lay cocoons for Mutalisks if there is no room for them to be birthed in here."_

I blinked, _"Wait, so this Behemoth, Daggoth, is technically female?"_

Asura chuckled, _"Zerg are not normally labeled with gender labels, Matthew. That is a human thing. Technically those ports I mentioned __**are**__ birth canals, but they're actually a part of the Hive organ. Without that, there would be no ports back there at all, so the Behemoth remains neither male or female, and will respond to whatever pronoun or noun you wish to use to refer to it."_

"_I see…"_ I mumbled thoughtfully. It makes sense all things considered. Zerg don't procreate the way humans do, so have no use for labeling something female or male.

"_Is there anything else you wish to do before we head for the Moon?"_ asked Asura.

At her question, my mind drifted to thoughts of Minecraftia's Moon and the weird shadow that technically shouldn't be there and grimaced. _"There's an old adage I subscribe by. It's rather simple really. 'Be prepared.' Whether we can get it done today or have to wait till tomorrow or the next day, I want The Daggoth fully upgraded before we go anywhere. I don't know what we're going to find on that Moon, but that weird shadow on the Moon gives me a seriously bad feeling."_

Asura nodded, and together we got to work upgrading The Daggoth completely. Of course, we first had to get it to touch the Satellite Hives so it could access the Bio Energy stored there. Between the 3 Hives, 20 Creep Colonies, the 20 upgrades to Spore Colonies, and 1 of each and every building apart from Creep Tumors, plus the Drones for each of these buildings, the grand total came to 8,425 Bio-Energy, leaving me with 2195.

By the time we finished, it'd gotten late, and I'd nodded off a time or two. Asura convinced me to sleep and that we could head out in the morning. In the end I agreed, and asked Asura to see about building a decent attack force and placing two Nydus canals on the Satellite Hives. Asura said she would, and I promptly laid down on the mound that would serve as my bed. As I drifted off, Asura squeezed into the room, blocking off nearly all the light and leaving me in darkness. I'd be worried, but there's a Zergling curled up at the foot of my bed and the other two are standing guard over Asura. I smiled gratefully and drifted off, achieving the best sleep I've had since I showed up here.

-END CHAPTER-

AN – Thanks go to Savvy Coyote for pointing out something I missed. Thanks to that Ch 13 – Day 9 has been edited. Turns out a scene I'd thought happened in this story was actually from a previous rewrite. It's now been edited in. In case you don't want to bother going back to reread the whole thing for what amounted to a 3 paragraph edit, Matthew attempts to whittle up a crafting bench out of a tree trunk, then use the 3x3 grid to make a sword. It doesn't work. Long story short, Minecraft crafting is something unique to Steve and the Testificates.

Ah geez… I just reread part of chapter one and found out that I don't have a watch, and yet in later chapters, I reference a watch for the time. Just… ignore the existence of the watch, ok? Hopefully if I keep track of what my character has from now on, I won't make the same mistake again.

Shoutout for the utter awesomeness that is Hunter Killers!

For those who've forgotten from earlier in the story, monsters can't spawn within a certain radius of the player/main character. Overmind Matthew is perfectly safe. If anything, the Zergling at the foot of the bed is overkill.

Oh, and fair warning. The next chapter might not be out for a while. I'm going to be marathoning the Stargate series. Actually my marathoning the last two seasons of Legend of Korra is the reason this chapter wasn't finished earlier.

_Overmind Matthew  
>PSI Energy – 5050  
>Status – Normal<em>

_**Abilities  
><strong>__- Burrow – Active – High vibrations from muscles allow user to drop below ground level to hide  
>- Spawn Hatchery – 50psi – 12 hour build<br>- Regeneration – Passive – Heals anything not instantly fatal; time needed depends on extent of injury.  
>- Anaerobic – Passive – No longer requires breathable atmosphere to survive.<br>- Temperature Resistance – Passive – Currently able to survive temperatures between -450 and 118 F.  
>- PSI Regeneration – Passive – Regenerate energy at .5 points per second.<em>

_**Equipped Items  
><strong>_- T-Shirt (Black)  
>- Pants (ABU)<br>- Boots (ABU)  
>- Nothing else yet<p>

_**Zerg Swarm  
><strong>__Bio-Energy – 2195/Income rate – 6375  
>Support – 171.5844_

_**Entities  
><strong>__1x R.C. Satellite Hive (1/32 layers; 4415 BE income)  
>- 1x Quad Hive Cluster (1xHive, 3 Hatcheries)<br>- 1x Evolution Chamber  
>- 4x Creep Tumors<br>1x C.C. Satellite Hive (0/32 layers; 1960 BE income)_

_1x Cerebrate (Asura)  
>1x Behemoth (Daggoth)<br>160x Overlords  
>31+24+12+6(73)x Mutalisks<em>

_16x Drones  
>12+16+3(31)x Zerglings<em>

_**Swarm Upgrades**_

_Burrow  
>Carapace 1,2,3<br>Defiler Consume (ugh…)  
>Defiler Metasynaptic Node<br>Defiler Plague  
>Flyer Attack 1,2,3<br>Flyer Carapace 1,2,3  
>Melee Attack 1,2,3<br>Missile Attack 1,2,3  
>Overlord Antennae<br>Overlord Ventral Sacs  
>Overlord Pneumatized Carapace<br>Zergling Adrenal Glands  
>Zergling Metabolic Boost<br>Hydralisk Grooved Spines  
>Hydralisk Muscular Augment<br>Queen Ensnare  
>Queen Gamete Meiosis<br>Queen Spawn Broodlings  
>Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis<br>Ultralisk Chitinous Plating  
>Custom Upgrade – Glowstone Green Grass Creep Lvl 1,2<br>Custom Upgrade – Queen Creep Tumor Birthing Chamber  
>Custom Upgrade – Overlord Muta Speed<br>Custom Building – Creep Tumor_

**Friends/Allies/Vassals**

- Lord Julian of Fort City Artemis (Vassal)

**Objects added to the ZGA**

Coal Shard  
>Cotton thread (black; strand from shirt)<br>Grass  
>Human hair (Overmind)<br>Obsidian Shard  
>Stone (Rhyolite) Shard<br>Tree


End file.
